Don't Look Back
by helenoftroyxo
Summary: Time travel. One of the most dangerous things one can do...yet along with the risks, it also has the ability to do wonderful things. Here is the tale of what happened to three young wizards when they traveled back to the time of the famous Marauders.
1. The Feather

Time travel. One of the most dangerous things one can do in the wizarding world...yet along with the high risks, it also has the ability to do wonderful things. Here is my tale of what happened to three young wizards when they traveled back to the past - to the time of the famous Marauders.  
  
October 21, 1998  
  
"Hermione!" Ginny Weasley called out as she ran down the hallway leading towards the Great Hall, "Come here! I want to show you something."  
  
Hermione Granger stopped in her tracks and turned around to face the youngest Weasley, a look of surprise and curiosity written on her face.  
  
"What is it, Ginny?"  
  
Ginny brushed her long red hair over her shoulder and started talking in an excited rush of words. "Well I was studying for Potions in the library, and I came upon an open book and it was-"  
  
"Whoa Gin, slow down! Ok so you found a book...what then?"  
  
Ginny took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. "Alright, well this book was opened to a page titled 'Time Travel' so I was curious and started reading it. It was really interesting; it had a lot of interesting information on traveling back in time and the risks of doing it. Anyway, I turned the page and I found a strip of paper which someone must have put there or something. It told me that inside that book, a feather with the power to take witches and wizards back to the past was hidden and it gave me an incantation to read to reveal where the feather was hidden. I did so, and suddenly a page split in two to reveal this."  
  
With a flourish, she pulled a 10 inch long pure white feather out of her robes pocket. She smiled when she saw Hermione gaping at her with a look of pure disbelief.  
  
"Is that ... are you ... Gin, I can't believe you!" she finally managed to sputter out, "Do you know how dangerous this is? Who knows what can happen to you if you accidently do something to make this feather take you back in time?"  
  
Ginny rolled her eyes. "Oh Hermione, don't worry. I've got it under control. It said on the strip of paper that in order for this to work, you have to pull out one hair from the feather for every year you want to travel back."  
  
"Ginny, go put that feather back right now. Time travel is dangerous! Do you KNOW what could happen if you accidently pulled out a handful of hairs from the feather? You could go back and destroy your past and there's a possibility that you might even erase yourself from this..."  
  
Ginny toned Hermione out as she daydreamed about what she could do. I could go back a year or two...and tell Colin that I knew about him cheating on me before I found out from Luna. This is so cool! she thought excitedly.  
  
Just then, Hermione and Ginny were interrupted by the arrival of Draco Malfoy - most evil, arrogant, and sought after bachelor in Slytherin.  
  
"Well, well," he sneered at them, "The weaselette and the mudblood are having a little gathering."  
  
"Oh shut up Malfoy," Ginny replied, "Where's your latest girlfriend? Did she find out about your little incident in 4th year and decide that she'd rather not date a ferret?"  
  
They were awarded the satisfaction of watching Draco's face turn 5 different shades of red at this comment, but it was quickly cut off when he roughly grabbed the feather Ginny held loosely in her hand.  
  
"What's this?" he said maliciously, "Can't be your quill, weaselette, you wouldn't be able to afford something as nice as this."  
  
"Give it back here, Malfoy," she growled, attempting to snatch it back. However, she missed by a fraction of an inch, and instead, succeeded in pulling a cluster of hairs off of the feather.  
  
"Ginny, nooooo!" Hermione called out as she reached out to grab Ginny's sleeve. Suddenly the ground beneath their feet began to spin, giving them the sensation that they were being pulled down. Ginny's mind screamed in alarm as she realized what she had done, but she was powerless as she felt myself, along with Hermione and Draco, being sucked into the whirlpool of time that would bring them back to the past.... 


	2. Allow Me to Introduce You To

October 21, 1971  
  
After what seemed like eternity spinning around in total blackness, the trio landed on a cold marble floor with a soft thump. Wincing, Ginny pulled herself up and dusted off her robes, looking around at her surroundings. At first glance, it looked exactly like where they had been moments ago - the hallway leading to the Great Hall in Hogwarts.  
  
On closer inspection, however, she noticed that a few things were different: a suit of armor missing here, a vase of flowers missing there. The one thing that was still the same was the happy buzz of students talking as they ate their lunch.  
  
"Where are we?" Hermione whispered apprehensively.  
  
"I think the question you should be asking is -"  
  
"- what year are we in?" Draco finished for Ginny.  
  
Ginny glared at him. "Thanks, I needed that," she muttered sarcastically.  
  
"Glad I could help," he replied, equally sarcastic.  
  
"What are you three doing, standing here in the hallways?" The three students jumped in surprise and whipped around to find a very young and stern looking Dumbledore looking down at them through his half-moon glasses. "You should be going to lunch."  
  
"Yes sir," they mumbled and quickly hurried into the Great Hall.  
  
Without another glance at each other, they hurried to the nearest table, which happened to be Gryffindor. Hermione and Ginny sat down next to a handsome black-haired boy, and Draco sat down across from them (though not before he made sure the two girls saw his look of intense disgust at having to sit down next to a Gryffindor).  
  
Looking around nervously, Ginny decided against discussing what was going on. It was too risky - they couldn't let anyone hear them. Instead, she turned to the boy sitting beside her and coughed politely.  
  
He looked over with a raised eyebrow. "Yes?" he asked with a bored expression.  
  
Ginny blushed and replied, "Um hi. We're new -" she gestured to Hermione and Draco, who nodded at the boy "- and we were wondering, um, what the date is. Oh, and my name is Ginny."  
  
"October 21, 1971. Name's James Potter. Nice to meet you," he said, looking a bit more interested.  
  
Ginny's eyes widened and she turned to Hermione. The older girl was staring back, looking just as shocked.  
  
Ginny couldn't believe it. James Potter? As in, the famous James who was also the father of Harry? He's pretty cute, a little voice inside her head said. She grinned. He was. James looked exactly like his future son - from the ruffled raven-black hair, to the strong nose, to the cheeky smile. The only difference was that his eyes were brown, rather than green like Harry's.  
  
When she turned back to James, he was no longer facing her, but a cute sandy-haired boy. Probably Lupin, Ginny thought. That means that the boy sitting across from James must be Sirius and that means... She narrowed her eyes at the sight of a small, chubby boy with thin brown hair. Peter Pettigrew, the man who had betrayed Harry's parents and sent them to their deaths.  
  
Hermione seemed to be sharing the same thoughts as Ginny, because when she looked over, her older friend was looking at Peter with an angry expression on her face. Draco, on the other hand, was leaning back in his chair with his feet on the table, examining his fingernails.  
  
"Hey Ginny?"  
  
Ginny was surprised when James addressed her, but quickly gained her composure and smiled at him.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Do you and your friends want a tour of the school? Me and my friends can give you one."  
  
Ginny turned to the other two with an inquiring look. Draco shrugged, which she took as a yes. Hermione nodded.  
  
"Sure," she replied, grinning. 


	3. Meeting Lily

Standing up, the four Marauders gestured to Ginny, Hermione, and Draco to follow them. Without hesitating, the three of them did so, trailing the older students out of the Great Hall.

"So what year are you guys in?" Sirius asked, turning around and giving Hermione a quizzical look.

She blinked, surprised that he had asked her a question. "Oh...erm...me and Draco are in 6th, and Ginny is in 5th."

Ginny nodded, as if to verify Hermione's response, and shot a glance at James. He was gazing at her with a look she could not place, but it made chills run down her spine - in a good way. Trying to shake this feeling off, she smiled at him, then turned to Lupin, who was talking to Peter.

Just then, a female voice called out, "Hey you four, what have you been up to lately?"

A pretty petite girl with short auburn hair and large green eyes was approaching the group, smiling at them. She wore robes with a badge that read "Head Girl" pinned on her chest, and carried her schoolbooks in a black bag slung casually over one shoulder.

"I see you've found some new victims to pick on," she said, smirking and tilting her head over at Ginny, Draco, and Hermione. "I'm Lily," she added, reaching out a hand to the trio.

_Oh so this is the famous Lily Evans_, Ginny thought as she shook Lily's hand and introduced herself. _I can see why James was so taken with her...she's gorgeous._ As she looked over at her friends, she could tell James wasn't the only one. Draco, who had not said anything for a while, was gaping at Lily with a look that read "You're hot, please sleep with me" written all over his handsome features.

"H-h-hi," he stuttered, gulping and attempting to smile at Lily. Instead, his face twisted into something of a cross between a grimace and a sneer. It was not pleasant, and Ginny felt so bad for him that she decided to intervene.

"This is Malfoy," she said quickly, patting Draco awkwardly on the shoulder.

Lily nodded and gave Draco a look of confusion, then turned back to Sirius, who was still talking heatedly with Hermione.  
"Hey, Black, look over here and introduce your pretty friend."

Sirius' head whipped around, and the expression on his face was quite like a deer caught in the headlights. He quickly recovered though, and introduced Hermione to Lily.

The entire time, James had remained quiet. Now that the flurry of introductions was over, the attention turned to him.

"You're awfully quiet there, Potter. Got anything on your mind?" Lily inquired, playfully poking him on the chest with her wand. "He's usually really loud and obnoxious," she added jokingly. "Dunno what's wrong with him...maybe he ate too much at lunch?"

James flushed bright red, and muttered something under his breath.

"Come again?" Sirius asked loudly.

"Nothing, lets just get up to the common room. I have homework to do," was the somewhat flustered reply.

Ginny raised an eyebrow and glanced over at Lily. The head girl shrugged her shoulders, signaling that she had no idea what was up. Meanwhile, the rest of the group was heading down the hallway again, so the two girls followed them, chatting about school and boys.

Upon reaching a portrait of an old man with a long beard, Remus murmured the password (which was "wingardium leviosa") and it swung open to reveal a very comfortable looking Gryffindor common room.

Unlike the one in the future, this common room had a worn down wooden floor. Scarlet and gold couches and chairs, which were faded after years of use, lay scattered in random areas, and a fire crackled merrily near the far wall. Students lounged casually here and there, playing games of wizard chess or excitedly discussing the last quidditch match. No one paid attention to the large group of students who had walked in.

"This is our common room," Sirius half-yelled over the chatter. "It's er...not usually this loud. Or busy," he added, giving Hermione a sheepish grin.

They headed up the stairs and into the 7th year boys dormitory. Nothing had changed in the arrangement of the beds; each bunk bed lay in the same spot as it did 27 years into the future. The four Marauders each collapsed onto a bed, and Lily perched on top of a desk that lay in the far corner of the room. Sirius gave a lazy shake of his head to let the three younger students know they could make themselves comfortable.

Once everyone was settled down, they began discussing plans for the night.

"We were going to go up to the astronomy tower and look at the stars," Remus said. "You three can come if you want. It's gonna be cold though, so bring your cloaks and blankets."

"The famous astronomy tower, eh," Hermione said, grinning cheekily.

"You've heard of the astronomy tower? Where from?" Peter asked, sitting up and giving Hermione a curious look.

She blushed. "I uh...well I mean, I've just heard passerbys talk about it in the hallways," she stuttered, struggling to save herself.

"Oh...okay," Peter said, shrugging and lying back down.

"Anyway," Sirius said, giving Peter a glare, "As Moony was saying, we're going around midnight. Meet us in the commonroom about half an hour beforehand. Dumbledore knows you three are staying, right?"

"Er..." Ginny said, not sure of how to answer.

"Of course he does," Remus put in. "That man knows everything that goes on around here."

"Okay then. Draco, you can stay with the girls or you can stay with us...either way is fine."

Draco, who was still staring at Lily with a hungry look on his face, gave Sirius a look of surprise.

"Huh? Stay with who?" he asked cluelessly.

"Nah he'll stay with us," Ginny said pointedly.

He blinked and nodded slowly, obviously deciding that he'd rather stare at Lily than waste time arguing with Ginny about something he had no idea about.

"It's settled then," Lily piped cheerfully. "We'll see you three later tonight."

Standing up, Ginny nodded. "C'mon you guys," she said, tugging at Hermione and Draco's sleeves. "We have a lot of....stuff to discuss."

The two 6th years stood up and followed Ginny out the door, leaving 4 excited Gryffindors and one very silent James to plan for what would turn out to be one of the most important nights of their lives...


	4. And The Games Begin

Later that night found the three students from the future sneaking down the dark stairs down to the common room to meet their new friends. Upon reaching the bottom, they sat down on a large crimson couch and waited for their company to join them.

"Are we allowed to do this?" Ginny whispered nervously, looking around.

"It doesn't say we're not," replied Hermione, "I read it in -"

"- Hogwarts, A History. Yeah, we know, Granger," Draco muttered, rolling his eyes.

"Shut up Malfoy," the two girls said in unison.

"Shut up who?"

The three of them turned around to see the Marauders and Lily standing behind them, carrying blankets and bottles of a red liquid.

Eying the liquid suspiciously, Ginny asked, "Er what's in there?"

"You'll see soon enough," James replied, grinning.

With that, the 7th years headed out common room entranceway with Ginny, Hermione, and Draco on their tails.

As the 8 students walked down the quiet hallways, Sirius told the trio about what his group usually did to pass time. They learned that the Marauders went up to the astronomy tower every Friday to look at the planets and talk about classes, relationships, and professors whom they liked or disliked.

They also found out, surprisingly, that Peter would not be with them that night because he had a girlfriend and they had, according to Sirius, "business to attend to." At the mention of this, Peter turned bright red and quickly changed the topic to the next Hogsmeade trip.

Finally, they reached the very top of the astronomy tower. Peter scurried off, mumbling something about having to meet with his girlfriend, while the rest of them laid out the blankets and set down the bottles.

"So, are you going to tell me what's in the bottle?" Ginny asked James.

"In a bit," he answered, winking at her. Sitting down on a thick white blanket, he patted the ground beside him. "Come sit down with me."

Ginny did so, settling down on the blanket next to James. The night was cold, and he casually put his arm around her. At this motion, Ginny shivered and bravely laid her head on his shoulder.

"So what do you think of Hogwarts so far?" James asked, his breath sending puffs of fog into the air in front of him.

"It's wonderful," Ginny replied, "and a lot nicer than my old school. Hermione, Draco, and I used to go to a private wizarding school in Scotland, so it wasn't nearly as extravagant as Hogwarts is."

"Oh. Anything else you'd care to tell me about yourself?" James asked, giving her a questioning look.

"Not really," she answered. "I'm not a very interesting person."

"But you are a mysterious person."

At this, Ginny laughed.

"That's okay though," James added hastily. "I like mysteries."

Meanwhile, Hermione was busy discussing potions with Remus. The two of them sat snuggly on a soft, emerald green blanket, deeply engaged in their conversation. Without noticing, they moved closer to each other, and Remus put his hand on Hermione's arm. The two of them did not notice Sirius, who was sitting a few feet away and staring at the pair with a look of jealousy on his face.

Deciding to act upon this situation, Sirius stood up and walked over to Remus and Hermione.

"Hey, Hermione? Could you come over here for a moment?" he asked softly, placing a hand on her shoulder.

Hermione looked uncertainly over at Remus, who was looking slightly crestfallen.

"Sure," he replied quietly.

"Okay. Thanks Remus, I'll talk to you about this later," she said, smiling at him. Standing up, she took Sirius' hand and followed him over to his blanket.

Once she was settled down beside him (_A little more close than necessary_, Remus thought angrily), they immediately began to erupt in quiet laughter.

While this was going on, Lily and Draco were engaging in their own private conversation.

"Where were you from?" Lily asked Draco with a curious look on her face.

"Uh..." he said, looking frantically over at Hermione.

She seemed to sense his eyes on her, and turned around to face him, mouthing the word "Scotland." He gave a nod of understanding, then turned back to Lily.

"Scotland," he said, giving her his most charming smile.

She grinned. "Oh really now? I love Scottish boys..."

Sighing, Remus looked around. James and Ginny were very close (_Definitely closer than necessary_, he thought, rolling his eyes) underneath their blanket, Draco and Lily were all over each other, and Sirius and Hermione were...well, they were doing their thing. He felt pretty lonely, so he decided to grab a hold of everyone's attention.

"Hey, enough of the cuddling, are we going to get started?"

James looked over at Remus, surprised. "Oh yeah...yeah, sure, lets get started. No need to waste time."

The three Marauders and Lily began to bustle around the room, picking up the bottles and setting them down in a circular shape in the center of the room. After a few moments, they each sat down behind a bottle, forming a semi-circle. They gestured to the other three students to join them and complete the circle.

Confused, Hermione, Draco, and Ginny sat down behind the remaining bottles.

"What exactly is going on?" Hermione asked.

"Allow me to introduce you to our form of entertainment," Sirius said with a wide grin on his face. "Basically, it's a lot like Muggle truth or dare, if any of you have ever played that. One person dares another person to do something, and if they complete it, they're allowed a drink from the bottle. You can only chicken out 3 times. The first person to get drunk is the winner."

Hermione, Draco, and Ginny gaped at him.

"You like?" Lily said, chuckling. "Lets get this started, boys...first person to go..."

She twirled her wand and sparks came out of it, forming an arrow which pointed towards Remus.

"Take it away, Remus."


	5. Truth or Dare pt 1

A/N: Sorry guys, allow me to make one thing clear before the story continues on: To anyone who refuses to read fics which are not loyal to JK Rowling's characters' personalities, stop right here. If you haven't noticed yet, you will notice now that characters are very OOC...after next chapter, you kiss bad boy Malfoy goodbye. So yeah, just felt like letting you know :) There will also be some ships that you may not like: Lily/Draco, Hermione/Sirius, Hermione/Remus, Ginny/James...however, I can guarantee that I will not alter the future and Lily and James will end up together :P on how that you've read my long and boring author's note.

Remus raised an eyebrow and looked around. His eyes landed on Hermione's face, and a mischevious grin slowly spread on his face.

"Hermione. Truth or dare?"

She turned pale and stuttered, "T-t-truth."

Remus sighed with a somewhat of a disappointed air, but continued with his turn.

"Are you a virgin?"

Audible gasps were heard from the trio, and Hermione, who had been as pale as a sheet a moment ago, turned an interesting shade of magenta. The rest of the Marauders, however, just laughed. Apparently, this was not anything unexpected.

"I can't tell you that!" Hermione cried indignantly, crossing her arms defiantly.

"Oh but you can," Remus said easily, "and you will."

Everyone around the circle leaned in, looking interested. The tension could nearly be felt in the air, and finally Hermione gave in.

"No," she mumbled, looking at the ground.

"WHAT?!" Ginny and Draco both cried at the same time. Sirius simply cocked an eyebrow, and James and Lily chuckled.

"No I will not tell you who it is," she said, glaring at Remus when she saw his mouth open again. "That wasn't part of the truth."

She had a good point, so he shrugged helplessly. "Your turn," he said, looking at her. "But first you get to take a drink from your firewhiskey."

Hermione looked at him oddly. "Do I have to?" she asked.

"Yes...go on, do it," everyone urged.

She sighed, and tilting her head back, took a gulp of the alcoholic drink. Putting it down, she shook her hair out of her face and smiled slightly.

"That wasn't so bad," she said cheerfully. "Well then. Malfoy...truth or dare?"

He sputtered angrily, and shot her an cold look. She simply looked back at him pleasantly. When moments of silence passed by, she said pointedly, "It would be quite nice if you could pick one."

Draco seemed to fighting an internal battle, but finally he heaved a great sigh as if he were doing the rest of the group a favor by answering, and replied, "Dare."

The quiet of the night was disturbed as the rest of the students sitting in the circle erupted in cheers. Hermione cleared her throat, and, after a few more seconds, everyone settled down and turned their curious gazes to her.

"Okay, Malfoy. I dare you to take a picture of yourself, sign it with "Love from, Draco", then deliver it to Snape...."

She laughed when she saw the expression on Draco's face slowly turn into a look of disgust, then added, "....butt naked."

The yells of "Good one!" were so loud that Ginny was surprised everyone in the castle could not hear them.

"Snivellus!" James cried gleefully, clapping his hands. "That's ingenius!"

Meanwhile, Draco was sitting as if in a stupor. He looked as if he were about to vomit, or at least break something in a very violent way.

"I won't do it," he said stubbornly.

"Must I quote Remus?" Sirius asked politely, grinning when he was rewarded with snickers from the rest of the students.

Finally, a few seconds later...."Ugh...fine. All right."

Everyone nodded their approval, and James muttered "Accio camera," which caused a large, silver camera to zoom into the room.

"Now pose," he said, shaking with laughter.

Dejectedly, Draco did as he was told. When the photograph came out, the grin he wore in the image looked more painful than anything else. Taking out a pen, he scribbled "Love from, Draco" in loopy script. Once he had completed the first part of his task, Hermione took it and gave a nod of approval.

"Don't worry, Malfoy, we'll save the best part of it for tomorrow. You get to go to sleep with that happy thought now," she said with a smirk.

Draco rolled his eyes and gave Hermione another piercing glare. "Don't worry, Granger, I'll get you back for that."

Hermione simply quirked an eyebrow in response, and gestured for him to ask someone.

He turned to Lily. "Truth or dare?"

She tossed her hair back, and replied simply, "Dare."

"Hmm..." Draco said, scrunching his eyebrows together as if thinking about it hard. Then, his face lit up. "I dare you to snog me for 1 minute."


	6. Truth or Dare pt 2

A/N: Okay, Draco's thoughts after the kiss might be kind of confusing right now, but I promise they will make sense as the story progresses. Btw, the "save for one" part is a hint...you might be able to figure it out from that :) Oh, and apologies about the shorter chapter.

Draco, who had been expecting a look of utter disbelief or even anger to appear on Lily's face, was surprised when her response turned out to be a grin. Shocked at his luck, he stood up and walked over to her, regaining his composure in the process. She followed him in standing up, and the two of them stood facing each other for several minutes. The rest of the group was silent.

"Well?" Lily finally asked, breaking the silence. "Where do you want to do it? Unless you want to do it here," she added, smirking. "I'm fine with that too."

Then, without warning, he reached out an arm and pulled her towards him, pressing his lips against hers. Her initial shock at this sudden movement turned into something else as she leaned in and kissed him back...she had never had a kiss like this. It was passionate and rough, yet tender and sweet at the same time.

Draco was also experiencing the same mixed feelings. He'd kissed plenty of girls in his time; hell, he'd probably snogged every girl in Hogwarts. However, none of them, save for one, had ever had such an effect on him. He felt as if electricity was traveling from her lips to his, and it was the most incredibly feeling ever.

The two of them were completely oblivious to the whistles and laughs coming from the rest of the group, until Sirius yelled "One minute!" gleefully. Although the last thing Draco wanted to do at the moment was pull away, he didn't want to seem too attached (after all, that wasn't very Malfoy-like), so he wrenched himself out of the kiss.

Unable to look away, he turned his gaze to Lily. She was staring back up at him, lights dancing in her eyes. She looked beautiful, yet seeing her looking at him that way caused him to turn away angrily. _What the hell is wrong with me_, he thought._ I shouldn't have done that..._ Not wanting to make his feelings apparent (after all, that wasn't a very Malfoy-like thing to do), he arranged his features into his signature smirk and headed back to the other five students, settling into his place in the circle again.

During the kiss, Ginny had felt James tighten up beside her. Looking over, she noticed that he was still staring at his hands broodingly. She was not surprised at his reaction, she knew that James had liked Lily for all of his Hogwarts years. Although she knew they were only friends now, her heart still went out to him.

Placing her hand on his knee gently, she decided it would be a good idea to move the attention from Lily and Draco to the next dare. "Hey, Lily...it's your turn," she said to the older girl.

Lily, who had just downed her gulp of firewhisky, nodded her understanding, although her green eyes were still fixed on Draco. "Umm...Sirius, truth or dare?"

"Dare."

"Okay...I dare you and Hermione to go to Hogsmeade and bring back an acid pop from Honeydukes," she said, grinning.

"Wait!" Remus interrupted, holding out his hand. "You can't do that...Hermione...she um...she already went. Yeah, she can't go again!"

"But Remus, I'm fine with it," she said with a confused look. "I don't mind going again."

He seemed to be fighting an internal battle as he looked from Hermione to Sirius, to Hermione again. It was obvious that he didn't want Hermione to spend time with Sirius alone. At last, he sighed; he knew there was no point in arguing it out because he would lose anyway.

"Fine," he grumbled.

Grinning, Sirius grabbed Hermione's hand and the two of them stood up. "It's settled then," he said. "We'll be back in a few hours. You might want to end the game here though," he said thoughtfully. "It's almost 2 AM, Dumbledore will be checking in on the common room anytime soon. If he finds us gone again and reports us to Dippet, we're in big trouble. Here, one more turn for me...Prongs, truth or dare?"

James, who still looked rather depressed, replied, "Dare."

"Okay. I dare you to pick the girl of your choice and spend the night with her in the Room of Requirement."

With that, Sirius, who was smiling due to the fact that he had just helped set up his best friend and Ginny, headed off towards one of the secret entranceways to Hogsmeade with Hermione at his side.


	7. Questions

Sirius chuckled to himself as him and Hermione walked down a long, dark passageway on the second floor. He knew that James had a crush on Ginny, and was quite satisfied with his clever matchmaking skills. Not only that, but he was going to get to spend a few hours with Hermione...alone. i This night is certainly turning out better than I thought, /i he cheerfully thought.

"May I ask why you're laughing?" Hermione ased him, slightly raising an eyebrow.

"Ah...at the fact that you're going to be stuck with me the entire night. You know, most girls would be dying right now if they were you. You don't seem as excited as you should be."

"My my, aren't we modest?" she said sarcastically.

Grinning, he replied with a casual, "But of course!"

The rest of their walk passed in silence as they headed towards the one-eyed witch. Each was lost in their own thoughts about the other.

_Hmm...she won't be as easy as I'd hoped_, the tall, dark-haired Marauder thought to himself. _I'll have to work harder on her than any of the others. I think she might pay off though...But Remus! Ah, I don't want to upset him. He's obviously taken with Hermione..._ Sirius grit his teeth, and pushed the thoughts out of his mind.

Meanwhile, Hermione's mind was a blur of confused thoughts. _Does Remus like me? He acts like it....but then, Sirius acts like it too. I'm so confused...do both of them like me? I like them both as friends, but I don't know if....Oh Merlin, where's Ginny when I need her..._

Sirius suddenly halted, causing Hermione to crash into him. She pulled away, rubbing her noise and wincing. "What?" she asked, a little bit annoyed.

They had reached the statue that would take them into the basement of Honeydukes. Crouching down beside it, Sirius whispered "Dissendium!" and the stone hump on the witch's back slowly moved aside to reveal a dark, somewhat damp tunnel carved into the ground.

"Ladies first," he said with a flourish of his wand, shooting her a charming smile.

Rolling her eyes jokingly, Hermione positioned herself above the opening, then let go. Sirius followed her, and with a clunk, the stone slid back into place.

Back in the astronomy tower, James had just picked Ginny to be the second half of his dare. Naturally, she accepted graciously with a blush.

"Lets help these guys clean up first though," Ginny said.

Her and James did so, helping Draco, Lily, and Remus fold and pick up the blankets. Charming the half-filled bottles of firewhisky away, Remus grabbed the stack of blankets, and began to head back down into the castle without a word to any of the others. A few moments later, James and Ginny also followed him down, although they were headed towards the Room of Requirement rather than the Gryffindor common room.

At last, Draco and Lily were left alone. Awkwardness was quick to settle thickly between the two of them as Draco leaned against the far wall and Lily looked out wistfully into the night.

"So," he said, breaking the silence. "Um...you about to head to bed?"

"Yeah," she said quietly. She remained stationary beside the window, though, continuing to gaze at the moon. "Beautiful night, huh?"

"Mmhm," he answered. Walking over, he stood beside her and looked out at the velvet-black night sky. It was indeed a beautiful night; the stars shone brightly and there was not a cloud in the sky to mar the perfectly crescent-shaped moon.

"May I ask what happened?" Lily asked even more quietly than before, looking at him intently.

Draco's face twisted into a look of grief and anger. His jaw tightened, and he gripped the ledge of the window tightly. It was obvious that he knew what she was asking about, but did not want to answer.

"Nevermind," she said, turning back away. "It's not my place to ask, I guess."

"How did you know?" he said, his voice somewhat choked up.

"Know about...?"

"About...well, what caused you to ask me that question?"

"You didn't seem to happy when I looked at you after..." she paused, biting her lip "...after the kiss."

"Yeah well something happened before that I'd rather not talk about right now," Draco answered shortly, a hint of underlying fury in his tone.

"Which is why I said it's not my place to ask."

"I'm going to bed," he muttered without looking at her. Turning around, he started to stalk out the door.

"Wait!" Lily said, holding out her hand and quickly striding over to where Draco had paused, a few feet away from the door. "Tonight was...I don't know. I can't explain it. I'm not sure if you felt it too, but that kiss was amaz-"

"Good night, Lily," Draco interrupted, glaring down at her. As she looked up into his face, the words she had been about to say died off. The storm that was brewing inside his slate grey eyes was violent enough to have killed off anything. She took the hint, and nodded defeatedly.

"Good night," she answered softly, watching him walk away.


	8. What You Never Knew

A/N: kuyaga, I am not an idiot thankyouverymuch. I know perfectly well that altering the future could screw up the HP future...which is why I'm not going to alter the future that greatly. If anyone else is confused about this fic, please go read my author's note at the beginning of chapter 5. Thank you and have a good day.

"So...what's the Room of Requirement?" Ginny asked James. She knew perfectly well what it was, but she had to keep up the pretense of not knowing the school grounds.

"Ah...you'll see once we get there," he replied, grinning as if he knew a secret.

"Look who's the mystery now!" she said teasingly.

To this, James simply clucked his tongue and put his arm around her shoulders. It felt nice to Ginny; although it seemed as if they were moving fast, she didn't want it to stop.

As the two of them entered a narrow corridor, James put his hand out, signaling for Ginny to stop. He then went on to stride quickly three times back and forth, staring at the blank wall to his left in concentration. On his third time around, a polished silver door shimmered into view.

"Ladies first," he said, holding open the door for Ginny.

She walked in and looked around, a smile slowly growing on her face. "I love it," she said, giggling.

The walls of the room were painted a pale bronze colour and were decorated with paintings of beautiful mermaids and handsome knights. An elaborate crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling, casting dancing lights to fall upon the single four-poster bed in the center of the room. A large, arched window was carved into the east wall, giving the occupants of the room a clear view of the quidditch pitch below.

"I'm glad you like it," James said, walking in behind her. He grabbed her arm and led her towards the bed on which he sat down. "Come on, sit down."

After she had settled herself comfortably on the bed, Ginny turned to look at James. "What are we going to do in here the whole night?"

"Hmm...well I could think of quite a few things we could 'do'," he said, grinning mischeviously.

Laughing, Ginny punched him playfully on the arm. "I'm serious! We can't just sit here like this for the entire night."

"Do you want to talk then?"

"Sure. Talk about what?"

"Well...lets talk about you first. I want to know more about you."

Ginny shifted on the bed uneasily. The conversation was moving into dangerous grounds. She wanted to tell James more about her, she really did; however, if she made one mistake and let it slip that she was from the future, everything and everyone would be put in danger. She couldn't alter the past, and she knew it.

"I....there's not really much to talk about," she said nervously. "I'd rather talk about you."

Raising an eyebrow, he shrugged. "Okay then...well I'm James as you may know me." Ginny laughed and rolled her eyes. "I'm 17 years old, I...oh come on, this isn't fun."

"Yeah you're right," Ginny answered, admitting her defeat. "I have a question for you then," she said. "What happened between you and Lily?"

James' head quickly snapped around to look at her. "What are you talking about?"

"I saw the way you looked at her when she kissed Draco. Something must have happened between you two before to cause that look."

"I'd rather discuss it with you," he muttered in response.

Ginny moved closer to him and put her hand gently on his arm. "James, if we're going to be friends, you have to tell me these things. I know it might hurt, but I'm here for you."

"You wouldn't understand," he said to his hands.

"Maybe I wouldn't, but you can still tell me."

"It's not a big deal or anything. I had a crush on her since 2nd year, and in 6th year, she finally admitted that she liked me too. I asked her out; we went out for 11 months and then one night I found out that she had been cheating on me for 3 months with a Ravenclaw 7th year. It doesn't really matter all that much..."

Ginny's eyes had been progressively widening throughout his mini speech. "I can't believe she would do something like that!" she exclaimed. "That's terrible."

"Yeah well we're friends now so who really cares," he said. Although he seemed composed, there was a hint of sadness and defiance in his voice. Ginny could tell that his experience with Lily had hurt him more than he let on. _I suppose I should let it drop if he doesn't to talk about_, she thought, sighing. _I do wonder how Lily and James ended up together after that whole thing, though..._

After a moment of silence, Ginny said, "Well...I suppose this is where I share something about me? Y'know, to break this awkward silence."

"Yeah," James said, forcing a smile onto his face. He was determined to make the best out of his night with this gorgeous girl, and not let old memories catch up with him.

"I...I..." stuttered Ginny as she struggled to think of something to say. She wanted nothing more than to say the truth - that she was from the future - but she knew she couldn't. Yet she couldn't lie to James...he'd just told her a secret of his, and it was only fair that she do the same. At last, it came to her. It was something no one else knew about her; something that, if found out, could ruin her future. But she knew that there was nothing to lose by telling James, and it was the only thing about herself she could tell that wasn't a lie. Gritting her teeth, she finished her sentence. "I have 9 years to live."

A/N: Some of you may be confused about Ginny's last sentence...when she says seven years to live, this is assuming that (since the statement is true for her future self at her age) it is also true for her past self (who is the same age), although it has no affect on her future self whatsoever. Meaning in the future she doesn't die as a baby or anything...she just has 9 years to live from that point in her life. Wow that was a confusing and boring explanation...I'm not sure if that cleared up anything (it's highly likely that it only made things more confusing :P), but yes...reviews? Oh and sorry for the cliffie...I'm having fun writing those lately.


	9. Stuck

A/N: Alright, time to answer questions. You'll find out what Ginny means by having 9 years to live in this chapter, but what I was trying to explain was that she can only live until she's 25 years old (since she's 16 right now) whether she's in the future or the past. So if she were to stay in the past, she would have 9 years to live, but if she were to return to the future, she'd still have 9 years to live. Also, I'll say this one last time: Lily and James **will** end up together, so no one worry. And I promise once again that I will **not** alter the future in any way that will change the HP storyline as it is.

For a minute that felt like eternity, James sat there looking at Ginny with a dumbfounded gaze. Under any other circumstance, she would have found it amusing, but right now she didn't feel like laughing very much. Finally, he opened his mouth and croaked, "Are you serious?"

"Unfortunately," she replied. Trying to will the tears that were forming behind her eyelids away, she blinked and added, "I have a disease that is slowly eating away at my magic. In 9 years, it will have completely destroyed me and I will fade away. Even right now, I can't perform difficult curses and spells."

"But...but can't you do anything about it?"

"My father took me to St. Mungo's when I was a little girl. They said this was only the 3rd case of this disease they had ever seen, and that there was no cure." As she said these words, she inhaled deeply, and let the tears fall. They glistened on her cheek as she turned her eyes to James. Hopless despair and sadness filled them, and it nearly made James' heart break.

Feeling that words could not even begin to make up for her fate, he took her into his arms and held her while she cried. "I feel so...weak. Like I have no control over my life," she said through her sobs, the words muffled by James' shirt.

"I know how that feels," he answered quietly. And indeed he did, for although he appeared to have the perfect life to all of his friends, it wasn't as perfect as it seemed. His parents were kind, but controlling; they always set down rules as to how he should act and when he could do something. Although they had become slightly more lenient when Sirius came to live with them, his mother and father still continued to lay out his life and goals for him.

For half an hour, James and Ginny remained in the position they were. Ginny realized that she did not feel uncomfortable or awkward crying to him, and James found her closeness oddly satisfying. Eventually, her sobs died down, and all was quiet. The only sound in the room as of her deep breathing, in and out. He gently shifted her position, and found that she was sleeping.

Smiling sadly down at her, James softly laid her on the bed. Once he had done this, he sat beside her slumbering form and observed her tenderly. At that moment in time, there was nothing more beautiful than this redheaded angel - her shining auburn hair spread out around her giving her an unearthly glow, and a slight smile rested on her pale, delicate face. He felt his heart thumping loudly in his chest; he wanted it to quiet down otherwise it might wake Ginny up. _I've never felt this way before, not even with Lily_, he realized. _Could this be...is it possible...am I falling in love with Ginny?_

-----------------

Meanwhile, Hermione and Sirius were creeping down the damp and extremely dark passageway from Hogwarts to the cellar of Hogsmeade. "Ugh!" Hermione exclaimed as she felt something slick and cold brush along the side of her face. "What in God's name was that?"

"Scared?" Sirius asked from ahead of her. Although she couldn't see his face, she could tell that he was grinning.

"Oh be quiet," she answered, although she smiled at his remark. It seemed like they had been crawling through this tunnel for ages, and she knew that robes would never recover from this expedition. "Are we there yet?" she asked for the 10th time.

"Yeah, we are," Sirius said. He cautiously shifted the block of stone which rested above his head away, and climbed out into the cellar they had arrived at. Kneeling down, he reached out a hand and helped his companion out. Upon straightening up and shaking her robes out, Hermione looked around.

The room was dark, and a single round window was carved high up near the ceiling into the wall across from her. Through it, light cast by the crescent moon shone, lighting up the majority of the cellar with its peaceful glow. "It's so quiet," she murmured to herself.

"Mmhm," answered Sirius. He walked up next to her and casually slung an arm around her narrow shoulders. "Honeydukes is usually pretty dead around this time of night."

Hermione laughed. She was vaguely aware of his arm around her; however, she did nothing to throw it off because - to her surprise - it wasn't as awkward as she would have thought. _It actually feels quiet nice_, she thought to herself.

"So," he said, interrupting the comfortable silence, "Lets go get that acid pop, shall we?"

She nodded her agreement, and followed him as he began to ascend the rotting wooden staircase that led out of the cellar and into the store.

As they entered the clean, candy-filled main room of Honeydukes, Sirius heard a noise coming from the front of the store. "Damnit," he cursed, "someone's coming. Quick, hide here."

He grabbed Hermione's hand and pulled her behind a shelf of sugar quills and ice mice, and the two of them waited with bated breath.

A tall, burly man with a bushy black beard walked into their view. He carried a wand in one hand which was lit, and wore a security guard suit.

"Can't believe I forgot to lock up," he said to himself, shaking his head.

The guard then proceeded to mutter a charm which sealed both the door to the cellar and the door to the back room. Then, he turned around and headed out of the store, sealing the main entrace as well.

Once they were sure he was gone, Sirius and Hermione stepped out from behind the shelf. The realization that they were locked in hit them as they both stared at each other in panic and dismay.

"What are we going to DO?" Hermione shrieked, making sure not to be too loud.

"Bloody hell, this has never happened to me before," Sirius groaned. "I can't believe it. We're stuck in here for the night."

"Say that again," the other Gryffindor asked, her eyes widening.

"We're. Stuck. In. Here. For-"

"Ugh I know. How are we going to get out? What if they have security cameras? What if the rest of them start worrying about what happened to us?" she said frantically, her words coming out in a rush.

"I don't know," responded Sirius as he gave her a helpless shrug. "We might as well make the best of it. I mean, come on, we're stuck in a candy store at night. This should be interesting."

Hermione sighed, then sat down with her back leaning against the shelf. _Great_, she thought to herself as she watched Sirius run to the jellybean aisle like an excited toddler, _I'm stuck with Sirius Black in Honeydukes for the rest of the night. Interesting doesn't even begin to describe it..._

A/N: Heh, gotta love Sirius :P And yes, I know James falling in love with Ginny is very sudden...PLEASE don't complain about this, because all that's gonna result from it is me getting very angry. However, this is the fanfic world; therefore, anything is possible.


	10. Secrets

A/N: Draco is going to be very OOC in this chapter...sorry to all those who like fics which stick to JKR's characters' personality traits, but he's going to continue to grow more so. This chapter was somewhat hard to write, but it's one of my favourites so far. Oh, and thanks to everyone for reviewing so far :)

"Ugh!" Draco exclaimed, kicking the stone wall nearest to him. With a frusterated sigh, he sat down with his back leaning against the wall. He stared out of the window across from him up at the moon, and wondered if Lily was still standing in the astronomy tower gazing at the same moon.

"Why do I have to be such a goddamn bastard," he muttered to himself. "There go all my chances with Lily. All out the door because I'm a prat who can't deal with my bloody past."

He closed his eyes, and his mind drifted back to...

"_Nice day, eh?" Draco said as he strolled down a street in muggle London with his girlfriend, Patricia. "Father finally let me out. He's been keeping me inside all summer and teaching me all this bull about dark magic. Like I care."_

"_That's a shame," said the petite brunette beside him who's hand he held. "I wish our parents would just understand that we don't want to turn to the dark side. Sometimes I feel like we're the only ones in the world who have to go through this."_

"_Yeah," Draco said quietly. "But hey, if I get to go through it with you -" he paused to lean down and kiss her lightly on the lips "- then I don't mind too much."_

_Patricia smiled and stepped back onto the street to let a group of tourists pass by. Draco continued to hold her hand as she did so. The look in her eyes was one of pure love and devotion. At that moment, Draco knew that he had everything he would ever want and more. And then, a crash, a screech of tires...her hand was wrenched out of his as her body flew into the air and landed against a tree on the sidewalk. Mothers screamed, children burst into tears, and Draco simply stood there, unable to register anything._

_The car sped off, the driver not even bothering to come out and check on the young girl he had just hit. Anger ebbed into Draco's mind as he watched the vehicle speed away. His legs remained rooted to the ground, his body frozen in the same position. One thing was certain - Patricia needed him. _

_He finally forced himself to move, and ran to her limp form. Blood trickled out of the corner of her mouth, contrasting strikingly with her pale skin. Her head was in an odd position, and he knew her neck had broken. Tears sprung to his eyes as reality finally became clear._

"_Draco...Draco what are you crying for?" Patricia whispered, her voice barely audible. Her eyes gazed at him with a love so powerful his heart ached. She looked so beautiful yet so sad. "I'm sorry for leaving you to..." her eyelids fluttered closed "...to go through it alone."_

_Draco was barely aware of the ambulence sirens as they pulled up a few feet away. People were all crowded around the two students, but in Draco's mind, it was only him and Patricia. "No...no this isn't happening," he croaked, his voice marked with grief. No answer. Nothing..._

Draco's eyes shot open. His heart pounded fiercely in his chest, flooded with sadness so fresh he could nearly feel her hand as he held it in her last few moments. Her eyes...he could still see them as they begged him to forgive her. Begged him to keep her in his heart.

With a groan of distress, he buried his head in his arms. Sobs wracked his muscular frame as he wept silently. The tears would never become old or any less sorrowful. Night after night, he dreamt of it, and woke up crying. This was his weakness. It was a side of him no one knew of. It was his secret.

Hours passed and eventually, he lifted up his head. His eyes were red-rimmed, his sleeves soaked in his tears. "Thank God no one was here for that," he murmured to himself.

Standing up, he rubbed his eyes, and then walked back to the Gryffindor common room with his hands in his pockets and the wound in his heart open again.

Moments after the blonde Slytherin had left the corridor, Lily stepped out from her hiding place and into the moonlight. She was shocked at what she had just witnessed. When she had first met him, Draco hadn't seemed like the type of person to cry like that. She felt guilty for having witnessed an obviously private moment like that. Sighing, she followed his trail back to the Gryffindor common room.

Meanwhile, Remus sat in his dormitory, writing in his journal. He looked up as the door opened and Draco entered. Nodding to him, Remus looked back down and continued with his writing.

_October 21, 1971_

_I haven't written in this thing for a while. I guess I haven't had much to write about. Well, that all changed today. Three exchange students from Scotland arrived at Hogwarts today - their names are Ginny, Draco, and Hermione. Hermione...what a beautiful name. Very fitting, because the person whom that name belongs to is equally beautiful. Yes, that's right...Remus Lupin has a crush. It's just that...she's so pretty. And smart, and funny, and sweet. I really like her. But I think she likes Sirius. Earlier tonight we were playing truth or dare, and her and Sirius kept exchanging these looks. Well, they're at Hogsmeade right now getting an acid pop. Merlin knows what they could be doing. I guess there's no way I could ever end up with her...after all, who would choose plain old me over Sirius, the most handsome boy in our year?_

Sighing, he shut his diary then slid it back under his pillow. With that, he lay down and closed his eyes. The last image he saw was of Hermione's shining face as she laughed...with Sirius.


	11. Honeydukes Sweetshop

A/N: Kuyaga - Yes I'm quite aware that Draco is not very Draco-ish any more. I know perfectly well that the sorting hat would not have put him into Slytherin if he really wasn't evil inside, but I would advise you against complaining everytime you read a fic in which Draco is good - that's pretty much every Draco/Hermione and Draco/Ginny fic so that would mean you have a lot of work to do. If you didn't catch on earlier, I said the characters will be OOC...they won't have the personalities JKR assigned them; however, everyone WILL end up with whoever they're supposed to end up with, Harry will stay alive, and no harm will be done in the future. And thanks for reminding me, Insanity-for-two...you're right, I completely forgot about that.

A/N2: Sorry, this is a really short chapter :( I just wanted to get my last few ideas in before the moderating on the site I usually post fics at shut down. Apologies to anyone who expected a longer one.

"Here you go, madam," Sirius said with a mock-French accent. With a sweep of his arm, he presented a bright yellow lollipop from behind his back to Hermione.

"What is it?" she asked warily. Knowing Sirius to be a joker, there was no way she would accept anything edible from him until she was absolutely certain what it could do to her.

"Oh...nothing," he said, giving her an innocent smile. "Just a present for you, my lovely lady."

She rolled her eyes playfully. "No really...what is it going to do to me?"

"Try it and see. I promise it's not anything fatal."

Sighing, Hermione took the lollipop and licked it cautiously. She suddenly felt an odd sensation around her scalp, and after a few moments of confusion on her part and chuckling on Sirius', she realized it was her hair rising. "Oh Merlin," she groaned.

Pulling her wand out, she muttered a hair-flattening spell and breathed a sigh of relief when she felt her light-brown locks settle back on her shoulders. "You are so immature," she grumbled. Sirius simply laughed at this, and strode off to stuff his pockets with more candy.

"Shouldn't we be getting that acid pop?" Hermione called out loud to Sirius' retreating form.

"Yeah I'll go get it in a bit," was his faint answer.

True to his word, the tall, lanky Gryffindor soon came back with an acid pop in one hand. He gave it to her, and she put it in her robes pocket.

"So...what are we going to do for the night?" Hermione asked.

"No clue," Sirius said as he crouched down in front of her. His exhilaration and excitement at having been locked in a candy shop had died down a while ago, and he now looked bored and uninterested in his surroundings.

Hermione turned down to button up her pocket, then looked up. To her surprise, Sirius' face was now mere inches away from hers, and he was gazing at her intently. She blinked, and said awkwardly, "Can I help you?"

"Yes...yes you can," he responded softly. Then, he leaned in and kissed her on the lips.

Although Hermione's initial reaction was to recoil, she fought her instincts away and bravely leaned into the kiss. _Mmm he's a very good kisser_, she thought happily. Then the realization of what she was doing hit her, and she pulled away. _I'm kissing my best friend's godfather!_ she thought in disgust. _What in God's name has gotten into me?_

"Anything wrong?" asked Sirius with a cocked eyebrow. A faint smirk now rested on his handsome face as he tilted his head to one side.

"Nothing," she lied.

"All right then...would you like to continue?" he said, the smirk growing.

"Uh...maybe...later," Hermione replied, blushing.

Sirius shrugged. "Okay then, your choice." With that, he sprung up and headed off somewhere else to investigate the wonders of Honeydukes.

-----------------

In the Room of Requirement, James still sat on the edge of the bed, gazing down at Ginny. His mind was a turmoil of confused emotions and thoughts.

_Is it even possible that I can be falling in love with her so...soon? Maybe it's just lust. Maybe I'm just attracted to her because she's gorgeous. Her eyes...oh God I've never seen anything so beautiful. Yet she's so sweet and innocent, and I want to protect her from everything whenever I'm around her. Even though I've only known her for...less than a day. But what about Lily? I've loved her for so long...I can't just give up on her...Argh, what do I do?_ James burrowed his face in his hands and uttered a frusterated groan as these thoughts ran through his mind.

As he did so, a rustle from behind him startled him. Turning around, he saw that Ginny had shifted positions and now lay curled on her side, clutching the blankets. A stray wisp of hair fluttered lightly everytime she exhaled, and on instinct, James extended a hand and gently brushed it away. Her image was one of pure serenity. _But she's so beautiful..._


	12. The Big Question

Hermione woke up the next morning to Sirius prodding her with a candy cane. Shooting him a glare, she tried to stretch her legs and arms, only to find out that they were stiff from falling asleep in a sitting position. Wincing, she stood up and rubbed her back.

"Haven't they unlock-" she began, but Sirius cut her off by putting a hand over her mouth.

"Shhh, they're in the front. We have to find some way of reaching the cellar entrance without them seeing us." Looking around, he then whispered, "Quick, follow me."

Hermione allowed him to grab her hand and drag her along after him as he weaved among the shelves and displays of candy. She couldn't help but realize how comical they must have looked if someone had seen them - him with his pockets stuffed full of candy and a giant candy cane in one hand, her with her messy hair, stumbling after him. Finally, they reached the cellar door, and when the storekeeper's back was turned, they quickly hurried through it.

To their relief, there was no one down in the basement. This allowed them to quickly make their way around all the piled-high boxes of sweets to the stone covering the tunnel to Hogwarts. Sirius slid it away, helped Hermione down, then followed her after sliding the stone back closed with a loud _thunk._

"_Lumos_," murmured Hermione, who was leading the way. Her wand lit up and illuminated the narrow earthen passageway ahead of them. With that, the two students began to creep their way back to the Hogwarts school grounds.

-----------------

Draco woke up to yells and shouts coming from the common room. Rubbing his eyes, he yawned. Memories from the previous night hit him as he scratched the back of his head, and he bit his lower lip. _Whatever,_ he thought with a shake of his head, _I'll deal with that later_. Grumbling at the commotion, he got up, stretched, and went downstairs to see what everyone was so happy about.

When he got to the bottom step, the object of everyone's delight was made obvious - a sign had been posted on the wall announcing the next Hogsmeade trip to be that weekend. As he shrugged in uninterest and turned around to go back to his warm bed, two 5th year boys walked by him.

"...gonna take Jennifer to Hogsmeade then, Tom?"

"Yeah," the other boy replied with a grin. "Already asked her."

They disappeared around the corner leaving Draco with a slight frown on his face. Who was he going to take to Hogsmeade? Lily's face immediately popped into his mind. _She'll probably say no,_ he thought miserable as he climbed back up the stairs. _After what happened last night, she probably hates me._

Once he re-entered the dormitory, which was empty save for one of the boys' pet cat, Draco slipped into Gryffindor - he shivered with disgust at the thought of it, but put them on anyway - robes and grabbed his school bag, which he had taken with him back to the past. After running a hand through his messy hair in an attempt to tame it, he began walking towards the Great Hall.

When Draco arrived there, the Marauders, as well as Hermione and Ginny, were already there. He sat himself down next to Remus, and tuned into their conversation - Hermione and Sirius were relaying, in excited voices, what had happened in Honeydukes.

Throughout their tale, Draco noticed that Remus remained quiet and brooding. Raising an eyebrow slightly, he muttered to the other Gryffindor, "Anything wrong?"

"Nothing really," Remus mumbled back, giving Draco the impression that his answer was about as true as him being from Scotland. He decided not to press it though, and simply nodded in answer.

Once Hermione and Sirius finished talking, everyone applauded. James looked particularily ecstatic as he whistled and proposed a toast.

"Hey Lily," Draco said across the table to the auburn-haired Gryffindor.

She smiled and replied, "Good morning, Draco."

"Can I talk to you for a moment?" he asked.

"Go ahead."

"Well...I mean, in private."

"Okay," she answered giving him a weird look. She stood up and after telling her friends she would be right back, headed out of the Great Hall. Draco followed her, not noticing all the looks of understanding the rest of the Marauders gave each other as he left.

Once him and Lily were alone in the corridor outside of the Great Hall, Draco cleared his throat and said awkwardly, "Erm...so are you going to Hogsmeade with anyone?"

"No. Why do you ask?" she said, knowing perfectly well why he was asking. Her insides squirmed with happiness as she said these words, and a twinkle appeared in her eye.

Draco gulped, and Lily couldn't help but notice how cute he looked when he felt uncomfortable about something. "D'you...well, d'you wanna come to Hogsmeade with me this weekend?" There. He had said it. He resisted the urge to close his eyes and pray silently that she wouldn't laugh at him and walk away.

Much to his surprise, she grinned and replied, "Of course!"

"Really?" he said, not bothering to mask his surprise.

"Yeah," said Lily. "I was going to ask you if you didn't ask me so...yeah."

"Oh..well okay then," Draco said. He smiled back; not only had he just lifted a huge load off of his chest, but he was now going to Hogsmeade with the most beautiful girl in the year. Although a little voice in his head urged him to not get too attached - after all, this was the past; there was no way he could be with Lily in the future because that would just be...well, that would just be wrong - he couldn't help but feel somewhat elated about his luck.

Meanwhile, back at the Gryffindor table, James had just left with Ginny so he could walk her to what he believed was her first class at Hogwarts. Sirius, Remus, and Hermione were now left alone.

"So...where's Wormtail?" Sirius asked Remus to break the silence.

"Probably off somewhere with his girlfriend again," Remus replied with a roll of his eyes, "doing God knows what..."

Sirius snickered. "Well, I'm off to go find Lanelle. We have to finish our summer potions assignment."

"I can't believe you still haven't done your summer homework yet," Remus said with a teasing shake of his head.

"Hey...unlike someone, I have places to go, things to do...or rather, people to do, over the summer," replied his friend with a wink. He then headed off to the Hufflepuff table.

Now Remus and Hermione were left sitting across from each other. "How was your night?" Hermione asked, looking at Remus.

"It was okay," he responded nervously. Everytime she looked at him with those eyes he could barely speak, much less think of something intelligent to say.

"Well that's good," she answered brightly. Silence fell between them again as she took a sip of her pumpkin juice and started fidgeting with the table cloth.

"Umm I have a question," Remus blurted out. He nearly slapped himself. _Are you seriously going to ask her?_ he thought, surprised at himself._ Hey...there's nothing to lose. If she isn't attracted to you right now, it's not like she's gonna be any less attracted to you after you ask._

"Yes?" asked Hermione, looking up.

"Erm...well y'know there's a Hogsmeade trip coming up this weekend," he started.

"Yes," Hermione said, smiling as she realized what Remus was about to ask her.

"I was just wondering - would you like to come with me?" He inwardly groaned as he said these words. _I am such a bloody idiot. Why the hell did I do that?_

"I'd love to!"

"W-w-what?" he stuttered, hardly believing his ears.

"Of course I want to go to Hogsmeade with you, Remus," Hermione repeated, slightly amused.

"You're sure?"

"Yes, very sure," she answered with a laugh.

"Okay then," he finally said with a huge grin on his face. "Well I gotta go to class now. I'll see you this weekend?"

"Sure...where do you want to meet?"

"Lets meet at the fountain in the courtyard," he said, voicing the first place that came to mind.

"Sounds good to me. Have fun at class today," Hermione said.

"You too. Good luck finding your classes. It shouldn't be too hard once you get the hang of the moving staircases and such," Remus replied. Then with a final wave to Hermione, he walked away, feeling like the happiest man on earth.

-----------------

"So what's your first class?" James asked Ginny.

"Potions," she replied, glancing down at the schedule the head of their house, Dumbledore, had given her earlier.

"Oh that's in the dungeons," he answered.

"I know," she responded without thinking. "Erm I mean...potions was in the dungeons at my old school too." Holding her breath, she prayed that James would accept her cover-up.

"Yeah most schools do," he said.

She let it out, and smiled at him. "Thanks for doing this," she said.

"Doing what?"

"Walking me to class. I'd probably get lost in a matter of seconds if it weren't for you."

"It's my pleasure," he answered, returning her smile.

After a few minutes of walking without talk, Ginny said, "So are you going to Hogsmeade this weekend? I've heard about Hogsmeade, it's supposed to be a wonderful place."

"Yeah, it's wicked. And yes, I'm going," replied James. A little voice in his head started nagging at him to say what he wanted to say so badly. _Just ask her, you wimp_, it scolded. "Bah, fine!" he said out loud.

"Erm...what?" Ginny said, looking at him oddly.

He flushed bright red. "Nothing," he answered, thoroughly embarassed. "Well actually, there is something I wanted to ask you. I'm not going to Hogsmeade with anyone and I thought...well, would you like to come with me?"

"Sure," she answered with a grin. "That would be fun."

"Great!" he said as he opened the dungeon door for her. She stepped in and turned around to thank him. "Well, I'll see you later, Ginny," he said.

"Bye James. Thanks for walking me here." She gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek, then walked into her class and sat down. James took one last look at Ginny, and, with her image set in his mind, walked off to start his day with the light of spending the weekend with her on his horizon.


	13. In Hogsmeade

The trip to Hogsmeade came quickly, much to the students' delight. On the morning of the event, Remus woke up to the strong scent of cologne. Coughing, he sat up and his eyes fell upon the source of the smell - James. He stood in front of the mirror, muttering a constant stream of spells and pointing his wand at different areas of his face and body with each one.

"Prongs...what the bloody hell are you doing?" he cursed.

"Sorry, Moony," James replied, turning around sheepishly, "I'm just trying to make myself presentable for Ginny."

"You're going with her?"

"Yeah I am," replied the other Marauder as he turned back to the mirror.

"Wicked," was Remus' muffled reply as he pulled on a shirt. "So, where's Draco?"

"Went down already."

"Padfoot?"

"No idea. He said he was going downstairs early because he had to meet with his date to Hogsmeade about something."

Raising an eyebrow, Remus returned to putting on his clothes and robes. Once he had smoothed out the wrinkles that had settled overnight, he went over and stood next to James to survey himself in the mirror. Wincing at his not-so-neat reflection, he attempted to smooth down his hair with one hand.

"Getting ready for your lady friends?" asked the mirror in an amused voice.

"Yes," chorused the two boys. A few more minutes passed in silence as the two continued to ready themselves. At least, Remus said, "I think we're ready to go now."

"Wait...one last...."

"No," he answered firmly, tugging at James' robes. "You've had enough time in front of the mirror."

James finally relented his position in front of the mirror, and followed Remus out of their dormitory. "Are you sure that I look okay?" he asked his friend worriedly.

"Stop acting like a girl, Prongs. I bet Ginny isn't even spending this much time on herself," as Remus' sarcastic reply.

He was, however, very much wrong for as he said these words, Ginny stood in the girls dormitory in front of the mirror with 15 or 20 different lip glosses spread out on the desk in front of her.

"Which one?" she asked Lily and Hermione for the 9th time that morning. She held one tube of lip gloss in each hand, and was looking from one to the other in perplexity.

"Ginny," started Lily patiently, "I thought we already decided on the clear one."

"Multiple times," added Hermione. She sat on the bed behind Lily and Ginny and watched them with an amused expression on her face. She never had been one to try out the makeup thing, but now Lily turned around and began to press her to try some of it.

After much encouraging and begging, Hermione sighed and gave in. Grabbing one of Ginny's tubes of lip gloss, she dabbed some on her lips and surveyed her reflection. _Not half bad, _she thought smugly. Bravely, she also applied some mascara and - wonders of all wonders - blush.

"You should wear makeup more often, Hermione," said Ginny's voice from beside her.

"Thanks," replied Hermione with a smile.

She then backed off and let her friends resume their frantic readying for the trip. She knew that Lily was going with Draco, and that Ginny was going with James. Oddly enough, Hermione no longer found it awkward or weird that they her schoolmates were with people from the past. It seemed so natural to her - like they had lived their life in the time period they were currently in.

Lily's voice telling her to follow them downstairs snapped Hermione out of her thoughts, and with a nod, she climbed off of the bed and trailed the two redheads downstairs.

When they reached the Great Hall, each of the girls saw to their happiness that their dates were already sitting at the table waiting for them. They walked over and sat down next to the boys, and the group promptly began to excitedly discuss their trip.

A few minutes into their breakfast, they were interrupted by the caretaker Wimble's announcement that the students going to Hogsmeade would need to depart in 10 minutes. Sirius joined them with a pretty, blonde Ravenclaw at his side as they began to stand up and pull on their cloaks.

"Hey Dierdre," said Lily with a smile at Sirius' date.

"Hi Lily," she responded. The girl looked positively ecstatic at the idea of going to Hogsmeade with the most sought-after bachelor in their grade. Sirius, on the other hand, was completely ignoring her and staring at Hermione (who did notice, as she was engaged in a conversation with Remus about the history of The Three Broomsticks) instead.

James and Ginny followed the group outside. As they walked, James held Ginny's hand loosely in his and the two chatted animatedly about what they would do once they reached the village.

"I want to check out Honeydukes sweetshop," said Ginny. "I've heard that it has the biggest range of magical sweets in all of Europe."

"It does indeed," replied James with something of a proud air. "It's the best store in Hogsmeade - just wait till you get there, you'll love it."

"This way, students," yelled Wimble as he held up his wand and shot out red sparks from the tip of it to let them know where he was. With all of the students gathered behind him, he lead them to the carriages, where groups of four climbed into each one. James, Ginny, Draco, and Lily settled into one of them, and Remus, Hermione, Sirius, and his date got into another.

Once the bumpy carriage ride to the wizarding village was over and all the students climbed out, the Marauders along with the trio from the future headed straight to Honeydukes. Hermione recalled the other night's events in the shop, and couldn't help but give Sirius a knowing look which he returned.

After the group had considerably emptied their money bags on jelly slugs, chocolate frogs, and fizzing whizzbees, Sirius and his date stated that they were going to Zonko's and promptly departed.

"I want to go look at the bookstore here," Hermione told Remus.

"Okay...do you guys want to meet at the Shrieking Shack in 2 hours?" Remus said to the group.

"Sure," they chorused back. "Have fun," Ginny added.

"Will do," replied Hermione. She and her date said good-bye to their friends and left.

As they headed towards the book shop, Hermione asked, "So what do you usually do in Hogsmeade?"

"We usually hang out at The Three Broomsticks, which is a pub. You've had butterbeer, right?"

"Yeah," Hermione replied. "It's good."

He nodded in agreement. Moments later, they reached a shop called "Bronko's Books" and entered it. Soon enough, they both became deeply engaged in the books each had picked up.

"Hey, I'm going to go explore the rest of Hogsmeade," Hermione said after about an hour. She put down her book and added, "Stay here and finish your book. I'll be back in half an hour or so."

Remus nodded slightly to signal that he had heard her, but continued to read on without looking up. Hermione smiled to herself, then turned around and headed out into the chilly autumn afternoon.

As she strolled down the streets of Hogsmeade and took in the familiar surroundings, she noticed Sirius sitting on a bench. He was reading something, and was not accompanied by Dierdre.

"Hey Sirius," she said, walking over and sitting down next to him on the bench.

He looked up at her and gave her a charming smile. "Hey Hermione."

"What are you reading?" she asked curiously, gesturing at the book he held in his hands.

"Oh nothing...just some school reading I had to get done. Dierdre left to go meet with some of her friends, so I'm waiting for her to come back."

"Oh okay." Silence fell between them following this remark as Sirius turned back to his book and Hermione settled back to watch passerbys. Although she thought he had resumed his reading, Sirius was actually, at the moment, plotting his next move.

"So, what's Moony doing leaving a pretty girl like you all alone to wander around in Hogsmeade?" he said casually, looking up.

Hermione blushed and responded, "He's reading something in Bronko's."

"Ah well, I suppose you must be very lonely then," he said. He put his book down and scooted a little closer to her to look her in the eye.

"Erm...well not really..." she started to say. Before she could finish, however, she realized too late that his lips were touching hers and that she was kissing back._ I can't do this!_ her mind cried in alarm as she instinctively moved closer to Sirius, _Why am I kissing Sirius? I'm supposed to be here with Remus. Oh God, pull AWAY._ Her body, however, was telling her otherwise and was unfortunately overruling her mind.

Suddenly, she heard someone behind her say, "Hermione?"

Hermione quickly pulled away and turned around to see who it was. Her heart sank when she realized that it was Remus standing in the middle of the street with a shocked and hurt look on his face.

"Remus...I'm so sorry...I didn't...it just..."

"No, I understand," he said coldly. "Hope you two enjoy the rest of your time here." He then whipped around and soon got swallowed up by the crowd of happy students.


	14. Fight For Your Girl

A/N: If you're reading this, then please review. Whether it's bad or good, I just want to know that I am writing this fic for a reason and that people are reading it. Thanks to those who do review, it means a lot to me :)

EDIT: kuyaga, thank you for pointing that out. I fixed it :)

Meanwhile, James and Ginny had just arrived at Bronko's Books and were looking around uninterestedly. "There's not much here," Ginny said as she strolled by the tall shelves containing old and falling-apart books. She took one off and blew the dust off the cover to read the title - A History of Basilisk Breeding. Cringing, she put it back up.

"Yeah," said James from a few feet down. "Oh, here's something." Reaching up, he pulled down a thick leather-bound book called Magical Diseases and Their Cures. "Hey, maybe it has something about your disease in it," he added with a hopeful look on his face.

Shrugging, Ginny walked over to him and the two sat down on a nearby couch. She scooted over next to her date, and the two read the introduction in silence.

"This sounds pretty good to me," said Ginny. "Shall we go buy it?"

"Good idea," James replied, nodding in agreement. The two walked over to the counter where the cashier rang up the book for them.

"6 galleons and 8 sickles," she said in a bored voice, holding out a hand. James gave her the money, and he and Ginny walked out of the store.

"Oh look," said James, glancing down at his watch as he and Ginny strolled down the bustling streets of the wizarding village, "we should be meeting the rest of them in the Three Broomsticks now. Let's go." Turning around, they began to walk to the pub.

When they reached it, James found them a small table in the back of the pub. There, they sat and talked about the places they had gone in the village as they waited for their friends to arrive. A few minutes later, Sirius, Dierdre, Draco, and Lily walked in. Looking around, the two couples spotted James and Ginny sitting in the corner, and hurried over to them.

"Wow it's really cold out there!" exclaimed Lily as she sat herself down across from Ginny. Nodding in agreement, the three students behind her also settled themselves down around the round table.

"Where are Remus and Hermione?" asked Dierdre in curiousity as she unwrapped her scarf.

"Umm," said Sirius slowly, "I think they're...discussing some things."

Raising an eyebrow, Dierdre looked back at her date and said, "I see."

A tall red-headed waitress soon arrived at their table with 6 mugs of warm butterbeer. "Mmm," mumbled Ginny over her cup. "I needed that."

"Hey guys," said a voice from behind her. Turning around, she smiled widely when she saw Hermione and Remus there.

"Hey Hermione and Remus," she replied.

Remus stood behind his date with a slight frown on his face. He seemed to be avoiding Hermione, who gave Ginny a meaningful look then faintly cocked her head at Remus to show that something was wrong.

"Tell me later," mouthed Ginny silently. Out loud, she said, "Sit down, you guys."

Once the newcomers had settled themselves down (_on opposite sides of the table_, Ginny noted), the waitress brought two more mugs of butterbeer. Remus thanked her and gave her 6 sickles.

The 8 Hogwarts students remained in the pub for another two hours as they talked about classes and planned their next move. At around 12:55PM, they began to stand up and grab their cloaks, preparing to leave the warmth of the pub to go wander around some more. As Hermione shrugged her cloak around her shoulders, Sirius walked up to her and tapped her on the shoulder. Leaning down he whispered something in her ear.

Remus watched this exchange with narrowed eyes. Just as he was about to walk up and ask Hermione if she was ready, his mouth dropped open when he saw Sirius brush his lips against hers. Looking across Sirius, he saw Dierdre's eyes widen and her hands fly to her mouth.

Not being able to restrain himself, Remus quickly moved over to the two in 3 long strides. Without thinking, he pushed Hermione behind him roughly and stood in front of Sirius with his arms crossed. "What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?" he half-yelled.

By then, the buzz of conversation in The Three Broomsticks had died down as every curious eye turned to the group of students. "Umm...Moony..." James said in a low voice, trying to avoid everyone's gazes. "This probably isn't the best time..."

"Shove off, James. I'm sick of taking this crap from Sirius. Get your dirty hands off my date," growled Remus.

Taken by surprise, Sirius had stumbled back and twisted his ankle. Wincing in pain, he replied, "What are you talking about, Moony?"

"You know bloody well what I'm talking about! Hermione came here with me and I don't appreciate you kissing her when your date and I are a three feet away."

"Well did you ever think she liked kissing me? Because I'm definitely sure there was some kissing back on her part," replied Sirius with a smirk.

Although a glimmer of hurt appeared in Remus' eyes, he quickly masked it by (to everyone's utter shock) punching Sirius in the jaw. Cheers erupted in the crowd at this, Hermione uttered a dismayed "Remus!"

Sirius, who had by now recovered himself, grabbed Remus by the front of his robes and muttered, "Like to do that again, Remus?"

"Sure thing." Wrenching himself out of friend's grip, he grabbed Sirius' arm and punched him squarely in the face. Sirius, whose nose had started bleeding, growled and lunged at Remus, knocking him to the ground. Fists flew everywhere, and whistling and screams came from the onlookers.

"Draco DO something!" Lily squealed.

Draco looked over at James with an unsure look on his face; the Marauder responded with a nod, and the two of them promptly ran to the fighting pair and pulled them apart. This was not done easily, seeing as Remus looked like he wanted to tear Sirius to pieces, but they managed to force their two friends into chairs a good 10 feet away from each other.

"You can all uh...go back to your activities now," Lily said meekly to everyone watching.

"That was brilliant!" came a voice from the crowd.

"Hear, hear!" chorused another 5 or 6 voices.

Hermione, who at the present moment was being comforted by Ginny, looked as if she was about to have a heart attack. Her eyes were twice as wide as usual, and she had a hand over her heart. "Ginny...please tell me that just didn't happen."

"How does it feel to have two guys fight over you?" Ginny joked weakly. She was answered with a glare, and shrugged apologetically. "Sorry...just trying to help."

Not too far away, Sirius and Remus were shooting death glares at each other. James still restrained Sirius by holding his arms behind the back of the chair, and Draco continued to hold Remus back from doing any more damage. Dierdre had mysteriously vanished. _Probably gone off to cry, the poor thing_, thought Lily as she began cleaning up the mess the brawl had created.

Once Lily had finished reorganizing the scattered and broken items, she gathered the group and pushed them out the door. "C'mon guys...it's time to head back to the carriages," was all she said.

With Lily leading the way, they marched down the winding streets to where the carriages waited. As the now-seven students walked, passerbys gave them curious looks and whispered to each other - obviously, word of the fist fight had travelled fast.

When they reached the meeting place for Hogwarts students, the headmistress McGonagall walked up to meet them. Her mouth set in a thin line, she said in a low voice as she looked each of the students in the eye, "We will discuss your little 'incident' when we return to the castle. For now, get into the carriages and do not make a big fuss about it with the other students."

Nodding meekly, they clambered into their rides without looking at each other. _We're in big trouble now..._ thought Ginny as she climbed into a carriage behind Draco and slid the door behind her with a _thunk_.


	15. Facing The Consequences

A/N: Okay, I tried to fix as many of the grammatical errors as I could find...thanks to everyone for helping me out through the reviews :) And kuyaga, you're probably right again...I fixed it. Thanks for letting me know. Last of all, (I know, the thanks are getting tiring, but only one more) thank you to everyone for reviewing, it means a lot to me. This chapter was hard to write because I had absolutely no idea what to write for it, and it's kind of obvious through the poor quality of it. The next one is better (or at least I think it is), I promise.

With each passing turn of the wheel to Hogwarts, Ginny's heart sunk. She knew it was a big deal that the Hogwarts students not reflect poorly on the school, and that McGonagall would not be happy with them once she had them in her office.

Much too quickly, it seemed, did they arrive back at the school. The moment they climbed out of their carriages, McGonagall stepped up to them and ushered them into a tight group. She then proceeded to lead them back to the castle and into her office.

Once they were inside, they all sat down on the hard-backed chairs that lined the wall opposite of her desk. Each sat nervously in their seats, not sure what to expect from the strict deputy headmistress.

McGonagall shut the door, then began pacing back and forth in front of them. "You," she said, stopping in front of Remus. Ginny noted that although she still acted very much like the present-day McGonagall she knew, this McGonagall was noticeably younger - the lines on her forehead and around her pursed lips were much fainter, the tight bun her hair was pulled into was (could it be possible?) not so very tight, and her eyes were more lively. However, at the moment, they were dark with anger as she glared down at Remus.

"You," she repeated. "Explain to me what happened."

Lowering his eyes, Remus began to relay the earlier events in a barely-audible voice. When he finished, he ventured a look up at the deputy headmistress. By then, she had moved on to Lily.

"Miss Evans. You are the level-headed one here. Why did you not stop them?"

"I tried, ma'am..." Lily began to say.

"Obviously not enough," McGonagall answered in a hard voice. "And you three," she said as she walked to the end of the line and stood in front of Ginny, Hermione, and Draco with her arms crossed. "Professor Dumbledore has informed me that you are exchange students from Scotland?"

"We are," answered Hermione for them.

"Allow me to let you know that this behaviour is NOT acceptable at our school."

"We understand," replied all three students simultaneously.

"Have I made myself clear?"

"With all due respect, professor, crystal clear," said Ginny.

Without another word, McGonagall moved to the front of the room and stood behind her desk, surveying the silent students.

"None of you are to EVER do something like this, do you understand me?" she said at last.

"Yes, ma'am," chorused the 7 students.

"I will be deducting 100 points for each of you from Gryffindor."

Ginny's throat tightened at these words. They had lost 700 points for Gryffindor...that meant their house had dropped to a point where there was nearly no chance of them regaining their lead for the houes cup. There was no doubt that this sudden turn of events would not be received kindly.

"Now return to your common room," said McGonagall as she sat down and began scribbling furiously on a large piece of parchment.

With bowed heads, they trailed after one another out of her office. James, who was the last one out, shut the door behind him and leaned against it with a sigh.

"I can't believe that just happened."

"Me neither," said Sirius as he flopped down heavily on a stone bench outside the office.

"Likewise," added Remus. Him and Sirius seemed to have forgotten the fight they had just engaged in only an hour ago, and had apparently come to a silent agreenment that they would forgive each other and focus in on the main problem - the fact that every student in their house was going to loathe them until the end of the year and perhaps even longer.

"This is just wonderful," Ginny said, her tone thick with sarcasm.

"Marvelous."

"Totally brilliant."

"Pure splendipity."

"Sirius...is splendipity even a word?"

"I don't know, Lily, and right now I must say that I really don't give a damn either."

"Oh...right, sorry about that."

Silence crept in amongst the seven students as they all stared at the ground, the fight earlier complete erased from their minds. Each was just as afraid as the next of leaving the empty corridor and facing the rest of the school - by now, the other students would have seen the crystals in the hourglass which held the points fall, and figured out what happened.

"I'm going to bed," grumbled Draco broodingly after a few minutes. "Anyone feel like joining me?"

"I'll come too, I s'pose," said Remus. James and Sirius also agreed to go with Draco, and soon it was decided that the girls and boys would head to their dormitaries in seperate groups.

"Bye Draco," said Lily as he hugged her tightly.

"Good night," he replied with something of a crooked smile at her.

The other couples also exchanged their good-byes; to no one's surprise, however, Hermione, Sirius, and Remus remained firmly in their places, avoiding each others' eyes.

With a few last "Good luck"s to each other, the group split ways and began the long walk back to their common room.


	16. A Midnight Discovery

A/N: Okay, well starting from now, I'm going to be posting chapters less often. Up until this point, I had all my chapters pre-written so I just posted them whenever I felt like it. I'm a slow writer, so there will probably be 2-day-long to week-long period between each new posting. Just felt like letting anyone who reads this fic know.

"Gah! Remind me again why we're doing this, James?" came Ginny's voice from the foot of the dark staircase in the Gryffindor common room. It was 1 AM and James had just awoken her and told her to follow him downstairs.

"Shh, keep your voice down," answered James in a whisper, "and we're doing this because we have to find a cure for your disease."

"Couldn't we wait until the sun came up to do it..."

"The library is always too busy during the day," he replied matter-of-factly. "Which is why we're going to sneak in right now. Now shush, and follow me."

Grudingly, Ginny obliged and crept after James through the dark shadows of the sleeping castle. They reached the huge library, and once James had muttered "_Alohomora_!" and unlocked the door, wandered into it.

The tall shelves filled with dusty volumes loomed over them menancingly as they split up and began to search for anything that might help them. After a few moments, Ginny whispered, "James, I found one!"

"What row are you in?" came the answering voice from somewhere to her left.

Looking up, she spotted the number "19" on a sign hanging above her and read it out loud. Soon, her companion arrived with 2 books in his arms. "Took these just in case," he said in response to her questioning look.

They settled themselves down at a low, round table near the entrance. Each took a book, and soon, the library once again became silent (save for the quiet breathing of James and Ginny) as they became engulfed in their reading.

"Hey look at this," Ginny said 15 minutes later. She held up her book, pointing the lit tip of her wand at the words on the page she was turned to. The title of the page read, **An Unnamed Terror: The Rarest Disease Ever**. "I think this is about mine. It says that this is the rarest disease known to wizardkind, it's not contagious, it..." here she squinted her eyes, for the words on the page became smaller with each passing sentence "...has no cure unless..."

"Wait a second," interrupted James, "unless??"

"OH MY GOD," Ginny shrieked, not bothering to keep her voice down. "It says that -" she lowered her voice back down to a whisper "- there is one cure for it, but it's one of the most trickiest things to create. It's an amber-coloured crystal which, if worn by the one with the disease, will continue to restore their magic as the disease eats away at it so they can continue to live a normal life."

James, who had been listening to Ginny intently, jumped up in ecstasy at these words, knocking his chair down in the process. "Read that again, Ginny," he said, his voice full of awe.

"There is one cure for it, bu-"

"No, no, stop there. That's good. What...are you KIDDING me...I can't BELIEVE..."

"I know, James, I can't believe it either! But how are we going to make this stone? There's no list of..." Ginny stopped as she turned the page. On the other side, a long list of 20 or so ingredients to make the crystal had been printed. A lump in her throat grew with each passing line she read. _These are really rare ingredients_, she thought numbly to herself. _No, more than rare...they're impossible_.

"What's wrong?" asked James frantically. He had sensed her tensing up.

Ginny's eyes shone with tears as she looked up at him. "James...these ingredients are impossible to attain. There is no way we will be able to make this."

"No, we will. I promise, we'll find a way."

Before James could elaborate on his statement, one of the magnificent oak doors of the library opened and a figure appeared in the doorway, holding a lit wand. "Who's in here?" called out the voice of the librarian.

"Crap!" exclaimed James in frustration. He quickly reached over and tore out the page from the book Ginny held, then grabbed her hand and made a run for it. The two of them veered out of the beam of light cast by the librarian's wand, and escaped through the back door of the library.

"Are we safe?" gasped Ginny as she tried to catch her breath.

"Yeah, I think she went back to bed," the other student replied as he ventured a cautious look into the library. Much to his relief, everything was dark and silent once again. "Come on, we'd better get back before we get into any more trouble."

They took another few seconds to regain their breath then, with James clutching the ripped-out sheet of paper tightly in his fist, hurried back to their common room.

-----------------

The first thing Ginny took note of when she went downstairs to the Great Hall the next day was the not-so-subtle tension between Hermione, Sirius, and Remus.

"What's going on?" she whispered into James' ear as she sat down next to him.

"Hermione yelled at both of them for being immature at Hogsmeade yesterday...in front of the entire Great Hall," he murmured back with a hint of amusement in his voice.

"Like everyone doesn't hate us already, she had to go and make a scene?"

"Yep. Hey, it was entertaining," he replied with a slight smirk. "They both deserved it."

Ginny shrugged, and looked around. Their group had significantly decreased in numbers - Peter (to no one's surprise) was not there again, nor were Lily and Draco. _Merlin knows what they could be doing_, she thought sarcastically. However, as she looked beyond their little huddle, she saw that the majority of the students at their long house table kept shooting death glares at them, and that everyone to their immediate right and left had shifted as far away from them as possible. On the other hand, the other houses, including the supposedly kind-hearted Hufflepuffers, all looked positively gleeful.

"Oh, I forgot to ask you," said Ginny to James. "Did you guys get any attacks from people when you headed back to the common room last night?"

"Eh, only a few," he answered. "Nearly got hexed by Sparticus Humnley, but luckily Wimble was passing by and gave him a detention for practicing curses in the hallway. How about you girls?"

"Nothing except a handful of glares. I guess we deserved them," she said with a sigh.

"Ah, don't worry about them," James said lightly, smiling at her. "Anyway, d'you want to meet today after classes to try to find some way to - he gestured at his pocket in which he had put the ingredients list for the crystal - obtain some of these? I think I might just have a few connections."

"Oh?" Ginny replied, cocking an eyebrow. "What could those be?"

"I suppose you'll just have to come by later today and check them out. Meet me in the common room at 5:30 PM today." He winked at her, then got up and left.

Shaking her head, Ginny took one last gulp of pumpkin juice then picked up her bookbag. She said good-bye to the three who remained at the table, and followed James out the doors.


	17. These Feelings

A/N: For convenience purposes, I'm having the classes at Hogwarts end at 5:20PM. I'm not sure what time classes actually end in the HP books, so I'm just going to make up a time to help move this chapter along quicker.

**November 11, 1971**

"This was a great idea," said Lily with a grin as she and Draco strolled along the shore of the lake. The weather had warmed up a considerable amount since their Hogsmeade trip, and the sun now shone brightly down upon the pair.

"Yeah, we used to ditch class all the time in...um...Scotland," he said, forcing a smile to cover up his hesitation at the end of the sentence. "Do you guys do it here?"

"I personally don't, but the rest of the gang does. I know you would think that I'd do it too, being friends with the great Marauders and all, but I really am a goody-good deep down inside," she replied sheepishly.

"Think I can change that?" Draco said slyly. He stopped walking, and leaned casually against a nearby willow tree. Turning to look at Lily, he cocked his head and smirked slightly. The leaves above him rustled as he pulled her close to him so that her face was a mere inch away from his.

"Perhaps...I guess you could...." The words died on Lily's lips as Draco closed the final gap between them by pressing his lips firmly against hers. She wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him back. Not wanting to be outdone, Draco encouraged her lips to part slightly, allowing entrance for his tongue. But as the kiss continued, something started to nag at him..._There's something about the way this feels, something about the way she..._ It hit him as he pulled away in realization.

"Is anything wrong, Draco?" Lily asked in concern.

"I...I have to go," he mumbled, pushing past her. He was aware that this was the second time he had rudely brushed her off, but the memories that were beginning to come back to him allowed him to do nothing else but walk away. _I can't do this_, Draco thought furiously as he started walking back to the castle with his fists clenched tightly.

"Draco! What's WRONG?" exclaimed Lily as she finally caught up to him and grabbed his arm. Although she had been shocked at his sudden change of mood, it was nothing compared to his reaction when he turned around.

"Listen, Lily. There are some parts of my past that I would rather not relive, much less share with others. I know it may not seem like it to you, but my life is screwed up. There's nothing you or anyone else can do about it, so don't even bother. Now if you would kindly excuse me, I have to go do potions homework." He wrenched his arm out of her grip, and stormed off.

Lily groaned in frustration. "But...we don't HAVE potions homework," was all she could manage to call out after his retreating form. "And..." she added quietly when he had disappeared into the castle, "I do know."

-----------------

Ginny watched the second hand of the clock slowly creep forward in her Transfiguration classroom with fixed anticipation. Five seconds left...four...three...she tensed up and quickly stuffed her books into her bag...two...one. She sprang out of her chair and out of the classroom, muttering a hurried apology to a classmate she ran into along the way. Within a few seconds, Ginny had climbed through the Fat Lady's portrait and into the common room.

Panting, she looked around. James wasn't no where. She uttered a groan of frustration, and moved over to a red-and-black striped armchair, on which she sat down. From where Ginny sat, she had a perfect view of the clock above the fireplace, and she watched this tensely, waiting for James to arrive. Finally, at 5:34, he surprised her with a tap on the shoulder from behind.

"Hey there," he said with a grin when she whipped around in surprise.

"James!" she exclaimed, leaping out of her seat to hug him and kiss him on the cheek.

His grin grew. "Wow, I could get used to this kind of greeting. Maybe I should be late for every one of our meetings."

"You wouldn't dare!" Ginny said with a mock gasp. She giggled, then added, "Anyway, what exactly are these 'connections' of yours?"

"Well..." he started, looking around furtively as he lowered his voice. "Don't be too loud about this. I can't have anyone else hearing about it."

"Don't tell me they're illegal!" she cried out apprehensively.

"Shh!!" James responded frantically, placing a finger on her lips to silence her. "They're not against the LAW or anything...and come on, Ginny, I'm trying to help you!"

"But James..."

"Don't worry, no one will find out unless you say something."

"I won't but..."

"Okay, here's the deal. I know a few guys who aren't exactly into the most respectable kind of business; even so, they have what we want and I can get the majority of the rare ingredients from them cheaper than I could from Diagon Alley. I told them I'd meet them tonight at 10PM. D'you want to come with me?"

Ginny bit her lip and replied, "Are you sure it's...safe?"

"Very sure. No need to worry, I'll protect you if anything comes up," he said playfully.

"But nothing WILL, right?"

"Of course not!" James said, taking a step closer to Ginny and putting his arm around her shoulders. "I wouldn't let anyone take you away from me."

"Are you sure about that?" Ginny said somewhat breathlessly. Her head was spinning from being so close to him. She could smell his cologne; it was faint, but it smelled like...was that peppermint? _Mmm whatever it is, it smells heavenly,_ she thought. "James..." she murmured as she moved closer yet to him and placed her hand lightly on his shoulder.

"More sure than...anything else..." James replied in a low whisper as he lowered his face towards hers. "Ginny..." was the last thing he said before their lips touched and everything around him faded from existance.

Ginny's eyes fluttered closed as she allowed herself to submit to the feelings that were overwhelming her. Her whole body tingled as if being shocked by a thousand mini-bolts of lightning, and she felt that she would surely have floated off of the ground if she had been any more light-headed. _He tastes so good...it's like...oh God I think I'm going to faint..._ The thoughts drifted through her mind moments before he tentatively pulled away.

"No...don't go," Ginny whispered desperately as he made to step back. The touch of his hand still lingered on her cheek, and she didn't want it to leave any time soon. Her heart was pounding wildly, and she felt her cheeks burning.

Nothing more was said between them as James lead her back over to the chair. He sat down on it, and pulled her down on his lap. Sighing happily, Ginny laid her head on his shoulder and breathed in his scent once again. The fact that they were in the common room where anyone passing by could see them started to edge into her mind, but she pushed it out. Right now, nothing mattered but herself and James.

"So Ginny," said James after half an hour of silence. "How about tonight?"

"Of course," she replied. Tilting her head up, she smiled at him. "I can't wait."

**November 11, 1998**

"And then he took 50 points away just because I SNEEZED in class!" protested Harry Potter to one of his friends, Seamus.

"Did he really? That prat," replied Seamus indignantly.

Harry suddenly stopped in his tracks. His chest felt weird, and as he pressed his hand against his heart, he felt no answering thump - his heart had stopped beating. He leaned against the stair rail and gasped for air. His breath was caught in his throat, and he couldn't feel the rest of his body. It was as if he had ceased to exist all together. The odd occurance lasted but a second, after which everything returned to normal.

"What's wrong, mate?" asked Seamus, looking at Harry curiously.

"N-nothing," Harry replied. "Go ahead, I'll meet you there."

His friend shrugged, and left.

Frowning, Harry raised a hand to push his glasses up. His mouth dropped in shock at what he saw: his hand was completely transparent. The faint outline of it was visible, but the rest of it seemed to have disappeared into thin air. He blinked, not sure if he had seen correctly. When he looked back down, his hand was back.

Shaking his head, Harry continued on his way. Strange things often happened to him, but what just happened definitely had to be one of the strangest.

A/N: Before everyone starts throwing items at me, I PROMISE Ginny and James won't end up together. Our beloved Harry will continue living. I just threw that last part in because...well, I'll let you figure that out :P Oh and - yay, first kiss between Ginny and James!


	18. Reality

**November 11, 1971**

Later that night, Ginny and Hermione sat in the girls dormitory. It was empty save for themselves, and they were free to discuss their situation.

"Gin," said Hermione as she brushed her hair, "do you know anything else about the feather? I mean, we can't stay here forever."

"I think I had a copy of the page from the book in my pocket when we arrived here..." said Ginny distractedly as she tried to find her cloak. It was a cold night, and she was about to head out with James to meet his "connections".

"Can you get it out right now?" the older witch asked.

"Yeah, sure." Ginny walked over to the chair at the foot of her bed, where she had carelessly tossed her school robes. She searched all four pockets, but found nothing. Gulping, she said frantically, "It's not here, Hermione."

"What?!" exclaimed Hermione, dropping her brush and running over to her friend. "Are you sure you put it in your pocket?"

"Yes, absolutely," replied Ginny. "It must have fallen out..." She got on her knees and began searching under the drawers and beds. Moments later, she cried out, "I found it!"

After carefully extracting her head from underneath Lily's bed, Ginny stood up, brushed her knees off, and went over to the desk. Hermione joined her there, and the two of them read the wrinkled sheet of paper together.

"It will take you back to the past...one year for each hair pulled out...choose to stay...oh! The hairs will continue to fall from the feather at a random pace, and once they all fall out the travellers will return to their time," read Ginny, her voice rising when she found what they had been looking for.

The two students looked at each other in shock. "I...I have the feather here," said Hermione as she pulled out a key from her shirt pocket and unlocked the first drawer of the desk. She pulled it out, and she and Ginny both gasped simultaneously. Only a small fraction of the strands of silky, white hair remained on the feather.

"Get Malfoy," said Hermione numbly.

Ginny nodded, and hurried to the boy's dormitory. To her relief, Draco sat in there, talking with Remus. "Malfoy," she hissed. He looked up in surprise, then frowned when he saw her.

"What?" he asked, standing up.

"Come here. Hermione and I have to talk to you."

Giving Remus a helpless shrug, Draco replied, "Okay," and followed Ginny to the foot of the stairs.

"You can't come into our dormitory; hold on, let me get Hermione." She scampered up the stairs, and promptly returned with her friend.

Without saying anything, Hermione showed Draco the feather. He gave her a confused look, which was quickly replaced by a look of distress when realization dawned on him. "How long is that?" he asked, his voice hard.

"Well...it's been three weeks since we arrived here. The first day, almost all of the hairs were still there. So that means...we have about 2 days left."

"No...Granger, please tell me this is some joke."

"No joke, Malfoy. You'd better say good-bye to Lily because after Monday, you'll never see her again," answered Hermione grimly.

"Say good-bye to me?" came a light voice from behind them.

Ginny froze. Turning around slowly, she saw to her utter dismay Lily standing there with a raised eyebrow. "Why would you have to say good-bye to me?" she asked again.

"Umm..." began Ginny.

"Lily," interrupted Hermione, "we, erm, have some things we need to share with you and the rest of the gang..."

"What do you mean?"

"Meet us tomorrow at 1PM by the statue of the golden apple. We -" she gestured to herself, Draco, and Ginny "- have to tell you guys something which...might have a big impact."

"Okay," replied Lily with a curious look at them. "Well, I'm going upstairs now. I'll see you three later."

"Bye Lily," Draco said glumly after her retreating figure. _She didn't say anything just then, _he thought with unease. _If she's mad at me, I'd better apologize soon before I run out of time to do it..._

-----------------

"Have fun with James," Hermione called after Ginny.

"I will," she yelled back, and then she was gone.

Hermione was now left alone to her thoughts. She sighed, and moved over to a low, orange couch, where she sat down. As she closed her eyes, Remus's face appeared in her mind. _I'm going to have to leave him in a few days_, she thought sadly. Then, she remembered Sirius. The moment his name entered her head, however, Remus's pushed it back out.

"At least you're luckier than Ginny and Draco," she whispered to herself. "They won't ever see James or Lily again..."

But, as she dwelled on this thought, Hermione realized what she had to do before her time in the past was up. Standing up, she headed back towards the boy's dormitory to apologize to Remus.

When Hermione reached the wooden door that read "Boy's Dormitory", she stopped for a second to consider her next move. _Should I really do this? He might still be mad at me, _she thought worriedly. Before she could decide what to do, though, the door swung open and she came face to face with Remus himself.

He looke down in surprise at Hermione. Then, he made to shut the door, but Hermione quickly held out her hand. "No, wait! Don't leave, Remus. I...I wanted to say something."

"Oh?" came his voice from behind the door.

"I'm sorry for the way I acted at Hogsmeade a few weeks ago."

"That sure is thoughtful and kind of you. I can tell you put a lot of effort into making that apology," Remus replied sarcastically. However, he did open the door again, and stood leaning against it as he surveyed Hermione disinterestedly.

"Well what else do you want me to say? I don't want you to stay mad at me."

"I'm not mad at you."

"You aren't?" asked Hermione, hardly daring to hope.

"Oh no. I'm totally fine with the fact that my date ran off and started kissing another guy while I..." he stopped, his voice trailing off.

Hermione blushed, and looked down at her shoes. "I know," she answered quietly, "I don't know what came over me. It just...happened. Like I had no control over it."

"Sirius sure does tend to do that to a lot of girls," Remus said in a cold voice.

"But I don't LIKE Sirius."

Remus sighed, and ran a hand through his hair. "You're the only thing good that's happened to me since..."

"Since what?" inquired Hermione, although she had a good idea what he was about to say.

"Nothing."

"Please, tell me."

Remus looked at Hermione. Her soft, brown gaze held his, and it silently begged him to trust her. He took a deep breath and said in a low voice, "I'm a werewolf."

Hermione smiled sadly. She had known this already, but showed no sign of it. Instead, she said, "That makes no difference to me. I see you as who you are, not what you are."

"I'm not asking you to accept me. I don't even know what came over me; I shouldn't have told you that."

"No, I'm glad you did. But I'm even more glad knowing that you can trust me to keep such an important secret." Hermione placed a hand gently over his as she said these words, and tentatively took a step towards him.

Shrugging, Remus looked away. He let his eyes wander over to the window to his left. It looked out over a part of the forbidden forest, so all that was visible was blue sky and green treetops.

"Sometimes I wonder if I will ever stand out. Hanging out with James and Sirius, I've always just been known as "the sandy-haired kid". No one really bothers to get to know me. I don't blame them; who would want to befriend plain old me when they can chase after the tall, handsome, popular ones?" He finished his mini-speech with a hint of bitterness in his voice.

"I would choose you over Sirius," Hermione said without thinking.

Remus turned to look at her, surprised that she was still there. Suddenly, something came over him. A need to be closer to her... without thinking, he lifted a finger to tilt her chin up, leaned down, and brushed his lips against hers.

Hermione was surprised by his sudden movement. Instinctively, she tensed up, but the moment their lips touched, she relaxed again. It felt so natural and right to be kissing Remus. His kisses were the complete opposite of Sirius's; sweet, loving, and tender whilst Sirius's kisses were full of passion and lust. Feeling him so close to her...it was like she had found the other half of her, as if they fit together like a puzzle. He pulled away first.

"Good night Hermione," he said, kissing her forehead lightly and smiling crookedly at her before closing the door.


	19. Confessing the Truth

"How long are we going to be out here?" asked Ginny, her breath turning into puffs of fog before her. She shivered, and buried her chin in her scarf.

"Don't worry," reassured James, "they'll be here soon...ah, there they are!"

Two figures, a man and a women, stepped out from the forest and into the light of the moon. The man was stooped forward, and the women's black eyes glared suspiciously at Ginny from underneath her low-pulled hat. James stepped forward to shake the man's hand and ask, "How's it going, Iain?"

"We have the goods," growled the man in a gruff voice, gesturing to a metal box held by his companion. "Hand over the cash, we have work to do."

"Ah, Delisa too! How do you do, madame?" James said, ignoring the man's order.

"No games tonight, Potter," said the woman, her piercing eyes shifting over to him. "Iain and I really do have to get going."

"Very well, I suppose there's time for chit-chat later. Here, come with me, we'll settle on something." To Ginny, James added, "Wait here."

She nodded, and watched nervously as the three of them stepped behind a tree. Minutes passed, and Ginny began to worry. i What if they did something to him? /i she thought, her stomach clenching at the thought.

Just as she was about to move forward and check to see if they were still there, James emerged from the shadows. He carried the box with him, and was staggering under the weight of its contents.

"Help me with this," he grunted as he struggled to keep a grip on it. Ginny hurried over to him, and relieved him of part of his burden by taking ahold of one side.

"How much did you pay them?" Ginny asked curiously as they began to walk back to the castle. "It must have been a fortune."

"Oh no...I didn't pay them anything," James replied distractedly.

Blinking, she said with surprise, "Then how did you get this?"

"Well...you can't tell this to anyone. One of my uncles tracks rare creatures, and it just so happens that he managed to capture a living shroud the other day. Iain and Delisa - they're the two folks who I just got this from - have been searching for one for quite a while, without any luck. I simply gave them instructions on how to steal it from my uncle's place."

"But won't your uncle be upset?"

"Yeah, but he'll never know it was me who sent them. S'no matter, he'll find another one somewhere. Anyway, this is a pretty good deal on our part; these ingredients in here -" James gave the box a shake "- would otherwise have cost a few thousand galleons."

Ginny's mouth dropped open in shock. "Where do they get these things?" she asked uneasily.

"Oh, here and there," he said, not looking her in the eye.

She raised an eyebrow, suspicious of his behaviour. A twinge of guilt nagged at her, telling her that their actions surely had to be illegal, and that she shouldn't just let it happen. Although Ginny opened her mouth to comment on it, she decided against it. i The Marauders must do this kind of stuff all the time and they've never been caught, /i she reassured herself before letting the issue drop.

center ----------------- /center 

"I think there's something Draco, Ginny, and I need to let you guys know," Hermione said nervously the next day. The Marauders, Lily, and Draco, Ginny, and her were gathered around the golden statue. The corridor was empty save for the seven of them.

"What is it?" Lily piped up curiously.

Hermione gulped, and looked at Draco and Ginny. Draco sat apart from everyone else, and was looking at the ground with an angry look on his face. Ginny was sitting to Hermione's left, and she kept shooting apprehensive glances at James.

"We're..."

The faces of Remus, Sirius, James, and Lily looked at her expectantly.

"We're not who you think we are," Ginny finished for Hermione. "We're not from Scotland, and most importantly..."

"We're not from this goddamn time period," growled Draco.

Hermione cringed, and tentatively raised her eyes to see how they were taking it. To her surprise, they all had slight smiles on their faces.

"Oh come on, you can do better than that," James said with a chuckle.

"We're serious," said Ginny.

"You're not," he argued back, although the smile was beginning to fade a little bit.

"You want to see?" she said softly. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out the feather. Another few hairs had fallen from it overnight, and now a mere 5 or 10 hairs remained. "This feather brought us back from 1997. That's the year we're from...and we're not from Scotland, we're Hogwarts students."

"That's...not possible," Remus said weakly.

"I don't know how it is either, but it happened and I'm glad it did," Hermione said. "I...I don't know if it's a good idea to tell you guys this, but we had to let you know that we're going to be gone..." her voice trailed off, and tears sprung to her eyes as she struggled to get the next words out. "...tomorrow."

The disbelieving and shocked expressions on the Marauders' faces told her that they had finally realized she was not joking. Sirius was the first to speak up.

"Why didn't you tell us before?"

"I...we didn't know."

The silence that fell following her words was heavy; only the quiet sobbing of Ginny and Hermione broke it. Draco appeared to be too upset for words or tears.

"I need some time to think this over," Lily said at last. She stood up, not looking either of the three in the eye. James, Remus, and Sirius all nodded in agreement. Silently, they stood up, and one by one, the four of them trailed out of the corridor. Draco, Hermione, and Ginny were now left alone.

"That was the hardest thing I've ever done," Ginny said, wiping tears from her cheeks.

"No kidding," muttered Draco.

"We're leaving tomorrow," Hermione said numbly, more to herself than the two other people near her. The fact had finally hit her head on when she said it out loud to the others. "I need to be alone right now. Bye guys."

"Me too," Draco added, turning around. He left without another word, and soon after, Ginny and Hermione did as well.


	20. By The Shore Of The Lake: Draco and Lily

A/N: I've received a lot of complaints about Draco/Lily, so please consider this before you start complaining as well: I wrote this fic, I'm not going to change it, and if you don't like the ship, why are you reading this?

When Draco had left the corridor, he immediately started walking towards the lake. In the future, it had been his favourite place to go to think - people rarely bothered him there - and nothing had changed when he travelled back to the past.

As he walked along the shore of the lake, he kicked at the rocks that littered the hard, sand-packed ground. The prospect of leaving which loomed on the horizon wouldn't leave him, and as he thought about it, he struggled to fight the tears back.

Even though he never would have admitted it, he had enjoyed the time he had spent with the other Gryffindors. It had given him a chance to get away from the cold and dreary days that accompanied being a Slytherin. He clenched his jaw, not wanting to think about the fact that once he went back, he would have to return to the life he disliked so much. It would be like this entire trip had not existed; only him, Ginny, and Hermione would know. Of course, that certainly didn't make much of a difference because he knew that once he became the old Draco Malfoy again, he would probably never speak them again.

As he turned these thoughts over and around in his head, he sensed someone coming up behind him. Without even looking, he knew immediately who it was.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, halting, but not yet turning around to face her.

"I'm sorry I left earlier," came Lily's soft voice from behind him. "I came to see how you're feeling. You didn't talk to me today."

"I had things on my mind," he replied simply.

"Would you like to share them?" As the words reached his ears, Draco felt the weight of her hand on his shoulder.

Sighing, he took her hand in his, and turned around to look at her. Her beautiful green eyes, which were so deep and clear that he was distinctly reminded of an emerald, looked back at him. They were filled with sympathy, sadness, and...something else. He shut his eyes tightly and remembered the night he had spent with her in the astronomy tower. The night of their first kiss. He had seen the same expression in her eyes that night, and he was now able to place it.

"Lily," he said, "I'm sorry for hurting you."

"Tell me why," she replied.

Draco started to shake his head, but then stopped himself. _Tell her_, he urged himself. _She has the right to know, especially after everything you put her through because of it. You were nothing short of cruel to her, and this is your only chance to try to give her a reason for all of it._

Taking a deep breath and closing his eyes, he began to tell Lily his tale.

When Draco finished, he opened his eyes and was surprised to find that tears had slipped out while he told Lily about the death of the only one he had ever loved. He was even more surprised when he saw that Lily was crying too.

"I'm so sorry," she said, her voice trembling with emotion.

"It's the past and you can't change it, so don't be sorry." Draco caught himself when he heard the familiar hard, cold tone that accompanied this memory creeping into his voice. He silently chided himself.

"You have every right to not want to let anyone in after that. I...I know how it feels to lose someone you love.

"What do you mean?"

"After James and I broke up..." she began, her voice sounding far-off.

"I thought you were the one who..." Draco started to interrupt.

"No, that's what everyone thought. No one ever knew the real reason why I did that to him. Draco, I'm afraid to let people get close to me. I loved James so much that I started getting scared. I tried to push him away, tell him that I wanted space, but he wouldn't let me go. I don't know what came over me one night...I was in the library with this guy I knew, and I told him everything, and I was crying into his shoulder, and...ugh, it went on from there. I started seeing him in private, and then somehow word about us leaked out, and James..." she bit her lip and tightened her hold on Draco's hand "...told me it was over."

"I had no idea..." Draco said quietly.

"I never really dated anyone once James and I split up. I only let myself trust guys who I was good friends with. I didn't want to make the mistake of giving my heart to one guy, and having it broken when I screwed up. But then you came along. The first time I saw you in the hallway with the others, you stood out. It was the look you were giving me that made me notice you," she said, laughing softly at her last few words. "James used to look at me the same way before I started having feelings for him. Then when we kissed in the astronomy tower...I've never been kissed like that, not even by James. After that, things started piecing themselves together and I..."

"And you...?" Draco prompted.

"I fell in love with you."

His heart stopped. Everything around him and within him seemed to freeze simultaneously. All he could hear were her last few words repeating over and over again in his head..."I fell in love with you."

"Lily, you can't love me," he said shakily.

"It's too late, Draco."

"My heart is broken. You deserve more than the shattered pieces."

"Mine is too. But I laid it down next to yours, and they fit together perfectly."

Draco's heart ached at her words. "I can't do this," he mumbled, taking a step backwards. "I can't love and lose again."

"You can't run from love forever," she whispered, her eyes pleading with him. However, she made no attempt to prevent him from moving away.

He stopped in his tracks, and looked at her. She stood before him, her beauty shining more brightly than he had ever seen it. He remembered the first day he had seen her, and how, even though he was aware that she was the mother of his archrival, her copper hair and delicate, heart-shaped face with its striking features had captivated him. Now, what had originally started out as desire, had turned into something stronger...something he had thought he would never experience again.

Love had him in its power once again.

Without saying anything, Draco moved towards Lily and took her into his arms. Resting his cheek on her head, he murmured, "Then I won't run from you."


	21. Past Mistakes: Hermione and Remus

**WARNING**: Minor mention of rape in this chapter.

Hermione took a deep breath and knocked on the boy's dormitory. "Sirius?" she whispered.

The door opened, and Sirius stepped out. "Hermione," he said, looking somewhat taken aback.

"I need to talk to you," she said, looking nervously past him and into the dormitory. To her relief, Remus wasn't in there. Luckily, she knew where she could find him once she was done talking to Sirius.

He shrugged, and shut the door behind him. Leaning against it with his arms crossed, he said in a flat voice, "Talk away."

"I don't really think we really would have worked out anyway," she said, getting straight to the point. "You can have any girl in the school...so why choose me?"

"Right you are," he responded. "But you're gorgeous, smart, and you don't see me for my looks or my reputation. I couldn't help but be attracted to you, right?"

Hermione sighed. "Look, Sirius. I really like you as a friend, and I would rather have it stay that way. I just don't feel...that way about you."

"So who is it?" he said softly.

She looked into his smoky, dark grey eyes, eyes which every Hogwarts witch longed to look into. "You know who it is."

He smiled somewhat sadly, but replied, "Then I hope everything between you two works out. He's a great guy; he deserves someone who loves him for who he is. I guess you know where to find him?"

"Yeah," she said, waves of relief washing over her.

"One last kiss?" he asked.

"Sure," Hermione replied. She stood on her tiptoes and brushed her lips lightly against his. He hugged her tightly before she pulled away. "I'll miss you," she said softly.

"You mean you won't see me in the future?" he asked in an attempt to lighten up the conversation.

She swallowed, and smiled weakly at him. "Maybe," she answered. "Sirius," she added before she turned to leave. "Whatever happens...don't give up hope. You, and only you, will know the truth; never let that go and always remember that I believe you, and Harry will too." These last few words she said softly, and her heart clenched as she remembered Sirius's fate.

He looked at her curiously. "What do you mean?"

"Just...keep that in mind for me." She forced a smile onto her face. "Bye Sirius."

Then, she turned around, and walked away.

The feeling of sadness she had acquired from talking to Sirius grew with every step she took towards the library. Although Hermione knew that she would see him one last time before they left, saying those words had been difficult for her. Even a year after his death, she, along with Harry and Ron, had a hard time accepting it. _It's going to break my heart to say good-bye to him,_ she thought, tears welling up in her eyes.

When Hermione reached the library, she immediately headed towards the far end of it. This was her favourite place to go when she wanted to be along, and if she knew well enough, it would most likely be Remus's too.

She was not disappointed to find him sitting on a low couch with his back turned towards her. He hadn't heard her approaching.

"Remus, it's me," she said as she walked up to him.

He turned around in surprise at the sound of her voice. "Hi Hermione," he said quietly.

She sat down on the couch beside him. "Umm..." she started out.

"So you're from the future?" he interrupted.

"Yeah..."

"Did...did you know me in the future?"

"I did."

"Can you tell me anything about me? About my friends?"

Hermione shook her head. "I'm sorry Remus, you know that I can't alter the future like that...telling you would throw off the balance of time."

"You're right," he sighed. "But sometimes you can't just help wanting to know what will happen in advance, you know? So you don't jump into things that...don't work out." He stopped, looking unsure about what he was going to say next.

"What do you mean?" she prompted.

"I already told you that before you came, I was a nobody. I mean, I'm just Remus. I've never had a girlfriend in my life, I spend my days tagging along after James and Sirius, trying to keep them in line...hell, even Peter had a girlfriend. But then I met you, and suddenly, I felt like a somebody. I wanted to impress you whenever you came into the room, and whenever you laughed at something I said, I felt like I had achieved one of my life goals - to see you smile because of me. Then I saw you kissing Sirius, and it was like I was out of the spotlight again. Like I didn't matter anymore, like I was back to regular old Remus. Now, it's like the somebody I was for such a short time is leaving along with you. As if being a werewolf wasn't bad enough, I don't even have you anymore. Meeting you was a mistake. I know it sounds selfish," he said with a bitter laugh, "but that's how I feel right now."

"It doesn't sound selfish at all," she answered. Her heart was thudding against her chest violently as she placed her hand gently over his, "and our meeting was not a mistake. We've all made mistakes in our lives. I've had my share of mine." Hermione had originally planned to stop there, but then she found herself spilling one of her biggest secrets to the boy in front of her. "Remember that night in the astronomy tower, when you asked me if I was a virgin? I'm not, and I didn't lose it by choice."

Remus tensed up beside her. "You mean..." he said slowly

"He raped me. No one ever knew; I never told anyone. I didn't even know him, I never even knew his name. He was some Slytherin who happened to walk by when I needed comforting...I don't even remember what happened anymore. All I know was that I screamed and cried for help, but no one was there to save me. I hid the bruises, both external and internal, and up until now, I kept it a secret."

His mouth tightened, and when he spoke, it was in a icy voice that she would never have expected to come out of Remus's mouth. "Hermione, you know that if he was here I would..."

"I know, Remus," she said softly. "But that's my past. It's gone, and I don't want to bring it back. Someday you'll be in my past, but I don't want you to be. I don't want to leave. I just want to stay here with you and never have to think about the future, because nothing is more perfect than being next to you."

"I can't believe you never told anyone," he said quietly, disregarding her last comment. "You held it in..."

"We all have skeletons in our closet," she replied, moving closer to him and looking into his brown eyes. They were filled with disbelief, fury, and underlying hatred. Keep them there and don't open the door again. Live for the present."

Their faces drew closer to one another's, and then their lips touched. Hermione felt as if she were melting into him as he put an arm around her waist and pulled her closer. Her entire body tingled as if static electricity was travelling in and around her, and the emotions that were coursing through her body...they were undescribable. As they pulled away from each other, she realized that she had never felt so perfect with someone.

"I don't want to let you go, Remus," she said, tears streaming down her face as she laid her head on his shoulder. "Don't ever leave me."

He took her into his arms, and gently kissed her again. "Destiny is cruel," he murmured as he stroked her cheek tenderly, "because you can't fight it. I guess I was just destined to lose my life...twice."

Hermione's heart broke at his words. She had never wanted to fix things for someone more than right now. Usually, it was her responsibility to be level-headed, and under any other circumstance, she would never have fallen in love with someone so quickly. But Remus had stolen her senses and her heart, and there was nothing she could do now that she was in love's trap.

"I love you," she said quietly after a moment of silence. "More than you know. More than anything. And no matter what happens, my love will carry on into the future."

"I love you too, Hermione."

A/N: If anyone didn't get Remus's bit about destiny, here's the basic explanation: life one teenage life (after becoming a werewolf he can't exactly be normal anymore) and life two Hermione. Also, no one fear, James and Lily will get together, but you'll have to wait till the last chapter for that to happen. And for those die-hard James/Lily shippers...you'll be a bit disappointed with their get-together, so just be forewarned.


	22. An Exchange: Ginny and James

A/N: Ah, the last of the three couples...Ginny and James. This is my favourite out of the three chapters, so I hope you guys enjoy. Also, hopefully at the end of the chapter, anyone who didn't figure out the disappearing thing the first time has figured it out now. And sadly enough, this fic is drawing to a close. Only three or four more chapters and boom, I'll be done. So watch out for the next ones...they should be good (especially the last one, which I just finished writing)

"What's the next ingredient" asked Ginny as she peered nervously into the cauldron filled halfway with a thick, bubbling, pale-yellow concoction.

Once she had left the corridor, she'd bumped into James. The two of them had agreed that now that their time was limited, they should start working on the crystal immediately. Luckily, it could be brewed and created in one night.

James sat across from her now, holding the crumpled list of ingredients. "Two crushed mist lily petals" he read out loud.

Ginny rumaged around in the box that lay next to her, and extracted a beautiful, glowing flower. She plucked two of its snowy white petals off, and dropped them into the cauldron. The potion inside immediately turned dark grey, and thick clouds of smoke began billowing out of it.

"What's next" called Ginny, coughing as the smoke engulfed her and James.

"One shard of the philosopher's stone" came the answering voice. Ginny, who couldn't see James at the moment, raised an eyebrow in surprise as she searched within the box for a thin sliver of the blood red crystal. She had heard tales of it from her brother about how he, Harry, and Hermione had found the stone and prevented Voldemort from getting it.

Ginny finally found the ingredient, and dropped it into the cauldron. Immediately the smoke cleared. The solution within the cauldron was now black, and its surface was deathly calm.

"And now" she said, looking over at James.

He glanced down at the list, and his face lit up. "Last ingredient" he said happily. "One phoenix feather."

Withing having to look, Ginny pulled out a large, brightly coloured feather. Its hairs were soft to the touch, and she couldn't help but remember the white feather as she looked at it.

"Well" said Ginny, taking a deep breath"this is it."

"Yep" James replied with a smile. "What are you waiting for? Drop it."

Ginny closed her eyes, and with a silent prayer that it would work, let go of the feather. She opened her eyes and looked down into the cauldron. At first, nothing happened; then, a small i pop /i , and the solution disappeared, leaving a silver, penny-sized stone.

"Merlin" whispered James, his eyes wide in awe. "I can't believe we did it."

"Me neither" agreed Ginny. She tentatively reached an arm into the cauldron, and picked up the crystal. It immediately began to heat up on contact with her skin. Her trembling fingers closed in around it, and her eyelids fluttered closed as she allowed the warmth to spread throughout her body. "It feels incredible" she murmured, opening her eyes.

James smiled when he saw her reaction. He could tell that the magic of the crystal had a huge effect on Ginny; her skin seemed to shine with a new radiance, and her brown eyes sparkled with life. Even her waves of auburn hair glowed brighter.

"I...I can't believe it" she said. "I can't believe I can finally be normal again."

"You'll never be normal, Ginny. You're more than just normal; you're extraordinary."

"Oh James, thank you so much" exclaimed Ginny. She moved over to him and embraced him. "This is all your doing...I don't even know how I can repay you for this."

"Well you could just..." The sentence died on his lips as he leaned down to kiss Ginny. She kissed him back, then pulled back and smiled at him.

James held up a finger, and said"One last thing we have to do."

Ginny looked at him with a confused expression on her face. "What's that" she asked curiously.

"Give me the crystal."

She consented. Immediately, the warmth left her.

James pulled out his wand, murmured a few words, then tapped the crystal lightly. A fine, golden chain fell out of the tip of his wand. Picking it up, he attached the crystal to it with a simple spell. "For you, my dear" he said, handing the necklace over to Ginny.

Her smile grew. "It's beautiful" she said.

"But not as beautiful as you."

A blush crept up Ginny's cheeks. "Can you put it on for me"

"But of course" James replied. He scooted over behind her, so that she was sitting cross-legged with her back facing him. He carefully placed the necklace on her neck, and attached the clasp. Leaning down, he whispered into her ear"It looks amazing on you."

Ginny tilted her head back in response. Her lips met James's, and suddenly the warmth that had overtaken her was replaced by another, much stronger feeling - the feeling of absolute bliss. It was still so unfamiliar to her, yet it was about to be taken away the very next day.

They moved apart from each other, and Ginny rested her head on James' chest lightly. For the moment, she had forgotten about what was going to happen the next day; however, now that the crystal had been created, it all came crashing down on her again.

"I'm not ready to leave yet" she said, blinking back tears.

"And I'm not ready to let you go yet" he answered, gently stroking her cheek. There was a hint of sorrow as he said these words and it surprised Ginny; she was used to James always sounding so happy and carefree.

Then, she remembered something. "Did you ever let Lily go"

There was silence, and then he responded in a forlorn voice"No."

She sighed in sympathy, and said"I'm sorry."

"It's okay" he replied, even though the grief beneath his light tone was evident. "I have you now."

"James...what's going to happen when I leave? You can't keep on holding onto me forever. It will never, ever work out." It pained Ginny to say these words, but she knew she had to make him face the truth. "Lily still loves you, you know" she added.

"No she doesn't" he replied bitterly.

"She does. Someday you and her will be together, James, and you'll be happier with her than you ever were with me. Someday you'll have an amazing son who will do things so great that the entire wizarding world will bow down to him. But these can only happen if you open your heart to her again."

"Ginny, this night is your last night here. Don't do this to me; I don't want to think about Lily, I want to think about you."

She bit her lip, and responded"Just remember what I told you when I'm gone."

"Don't say that..."

Ginny began to weep as she replied"It's going to happen, and we're better off acknowledging it than trying to push the fact away."

James shook his head, and wiped the tears away from her cheeks as he said gently"I love you, Ginny, and no amount of love for Lily could ever match the love I have for you."

She started crying harder, and even though it tore her heart apart to say the next words, she whispered through her tears"I love you too, James."

**November 12, 1997**

Harry and Ron Weasley sat in the Gryffindor common room playing a very intense game of wizarding chess. Both their faces were scrunched up in concentration as they plotted ways to beat the other.

"Checkmate" cried Ron gleefully a few minutes later. "Beaten once again, Potter."

"Oh shut up, Ron" replied Harry jokingly. "C'mon, lets clean up, it's almost time for dinner."

He reached out and began gathering the pieces when all of a sudden, the odd sensation of his heart stopping hit him once again. This time, it was far more painful than the other day; he felt as though his heart was twisting around, and for some reason, he felt as if he had been betrayed.

An image of Ron's younger sister, Ginny, kissing someone who looked shockingly like himself flashed into his mind for a brief moment. Suddenly, he heard the words"I love you, Ginny" faintly echoing in his head in a voice that sounded like...no, it couldn't be. The voice sounded like...his own.

Then, it all stopped. Just like it had the day before while he had been on the stairs. Panting for breath, he looked at Ron. His friend was staring at him with his mouth opened in shock, looking as pale as a ghost.

"Bloody hell" Ron exclaimed, his eyes fixed on Harry's waist.

Harry slowly followed Ron's gaze, almost afraid of what he was going to see. His mouth also dropped open when he saw the reason for his friend's shocked expression. His entire lower half, from feet to waist, had disappeared.

"Ron..." he said in a shaking voice. "Whats going on" He looked down once again, and blinked in surprise - his legs were back.

Ron glanced up at his friend, shaking his head slowly in disbelief. "That was...not normal, Harry" he squeaked.

"I...I saw Ginny kissing someone who looked like...me."

Eyes widening, Ron muttered"Why did Hermione have to choose now to go on a Muggle Studies field trip..."

**November 12, 1971**

Reaching up behind her, Ginny unclasped the necklace on which hung the crystal. "Keep this" she said, pressing it into James's hand. "Keep it for the night. You can give it back to me tomorrow when we leave."

"I can't take this..." he started to say.

"Please take it, and remember that while you have it, you also hold my life in your hand." She smiled sadly at him before kissing him on the cheek, standing up, and walking out of the room.

James now sat alone. He closed his eyes, wanting to preserve the feel of her lips on his in his mind forever. He knew that the feelings that controlled him him could only mean one thing...the overwhelming pain, the will to sacrafice it all, the rush of emotions...once again, love had stripped him of everything except his heart, which he had now also lost in exchange for the tiny crystal that lay in his hand.


	23. Destiny Is Cruel

**November 13, 1971**

The following night, the seven of them gathered in the astronomy tower - Ginny, Hermione, Draco, James, Remus, Lily, and Sirius. The moonlight lit up the round room, and the stars in the night sky twinkled brightly.

The day had been grey and dreary, seeming to reflect the moods of the students. As the night fell, the clouds had moved away to be replaced by a clear, velvet black sky.

Ginny was the first one to speak. "This is where we first became friends" she reflected.

"Yeah.." Lily agreed, stepping up next to her. "I'll never forget the night we played truth or dare."

The room became quiet as everyone submitted to their own thoughts.

Finally, Sirius spoke up. "Hey, lets not be too depressed now, kids. I have an idea. Why don't you lovebirds engrave your names into the windowsill here" He said this in a gentle tone, as if for once, he was trying to comfort all of them.

Hermione smiled, and replied in a quavering voice"That's a great idea, Sirius."

Her and Remus went first. With his wand, Remus carved the words"Remus + Hermione" into the stone of the windowsill. James and Ginny followed, leaving "James + Ginny" beside the first engraving, and Draco and Lily finished by adding "Draco + Lily" at the end of the line.

They all gathered around the window, and smiled as they looked at the names that had been carved deeply into the polished stone. Now their legacy would be preserved in Hogwarts forever.

Suddenly, Draco spoke up in a low voice. "I feel...as if I'm fading away."

"Me too" said Hermione softly. As she said these words, her edges seemed to be thinning out. Remus let out a choked sob and took her into his arms. "No, Hermione" he pleaded"don't leave."

Hermione rested her head on his chest. "Destiny is cruel" she recited. "It had to end, Remus...it was woven into our fate." She kissed him gently on the lips.

Meanwhile, Lily was crying into Draco's shoulder. "Draco...don't go..." she whispered desperately.

"I never got to spend enough time with you, Lily" he replied in a regretful voice. "It's like it's happening all over again. But I won't lose you before I tell you the truth...I won't let that happen again. I love you, Lily."

She began to sob harder, and looked up at him with tear-filled eyes. "I'll never forget you."

"I won't either" he replied. His voice was already beginning to sound distant. He leaned down and brushed his lips against hers. "You'll always be with me."

At the same time, James was holding onto Ginny's hand, begging her not to leave. "Don't..." he started to say.

She gazed at him with sad eyes as her edges began to diminish as well. "I'm sorry, James. I wish I could do something about it."

He shook his head. "Don't give in, Ginny."

"I love you so much..." she murmured in response, kissing his lips one last time and imprinting every last detail of him into her soul.

"Guys" came Sirius's voice from behind them solemnly. "I think...you should step back now."

Six hearts within the room broke simultaneously as Remus, Lily, and James stepped back. Six souls wept in despair, and six pairs of eyes engraved this last image of the others into their minds forever. Hermione, Draco, and Ginny were now barely visible - only a faint, glowing outline could be seen of them.

"James, Sirius, Remus, and Lily" Ginny said, her voice barely audible now. "You four will go on to be amazing people. No matter how dark the times grow, no matter what others accuse you of...remember that you're the Marauders. Trust no one but each other, not even Peter. Stick together, and don't let anything break you apart. When it seems like there's nothing left...live for the memories that light up your heart."

With that, the three students shimmered into view for a split second, and then disappeared completely. And as the remaining four people broke down in despair, a cloud drifted across the moon and darkened the room. Shadows fell upon the tear-streaked faces of the Marauders, mimicking their emotions and thoughts.

It seemed only fitting that the shroud of sorrow that had slipped over them diminished the light of the night as well.

**November 13, 1997**

Ginny, Hermione, and Draco faded into view in a deserted astronomy tower. Both the girls were weeping into their hands, but Draco was filled with a remorse so great that he couldn't even cry.

"I think we're here" he mumbled.

"I wish we weren't" sobbed Ginny. She reached up to her neck to grasp her crystal, then with a start, realized it wasn't there. Her crying stopped immediately as she frantically searched her pockets for it. "Where's my crystal" she asked out loud.

"I thought you gave it to James for the night" said Hermione with surprise. Her tears had also slowed down, and now she was looking at Ginny with concern.

"I did and...oh my God, I forgot to get it back from him." Her heart skipped a beat when the realization hit her. "I left it in the past..."

"Oh Ginny, I'm so sorry" gasped Hermione, hugging her friend. "You don't have the ingredient list with you"

"No, James still has it" Ginny groaned. She was too distressed to even cry about it; plus, she had already used up all her tears at the parting. "What am I going to do"

To her surprise, Draco spoke up. "I'm sorry, Ginny" he said quietly, using her first name for once.

Ginny buried her face in her hands. "As if things weren't bad enough..."

"I'm sorry too, Ginny" added Hermione. "But...you can't choose your fate. We had the fortune of going back in time and meeting some of the greatest people ever. It was too good to bring over to the future, and I guess that's the consequence."

"You're right" agreed Ginny, looking up. Her eyes were still red-rimmed from crying, but now she seemed to have calmed down. "I'm destined to die this way, and I can't expect to be saved miraculously from it. I'm being selfish by thinking I can."

"And I'm destined love and lose forever" added Draco, sighing and turning around.

Hermione smiled sadly. "It was us three who were chosen to go back for a reason. We had to learn to overcome our differences, but most importantly, we had to finally let go of the things that hold us down, to get past them and live our life to the fullest. And I think we did it."

"Hey look" interrupted Ginny. She was standing beside the arched window which looked out over the grounds. It was the same one Draco and Lily had looked out of so long ago, and it was the one underneath which the three couples had carved their names.

Draco and Hermione walked over to Ginny. Each smiled at the sight that greeted their eyes - the stone had faded over the years, but the six names were as clear and prominent as they would have been if they had been carved just hours ago. Hermione ran her fingers along Remus's name, her heart aching as she did.

"Destiny is cruel..."


	24. 23

**August 11, 2004**

Ginny Weasley woke up on a Monday morning, yawning. Her limbs ached and she struggled to breathe as she sat up. Over the past few weeks, her condition had been growing steadily worse each day. She had known that her time was arriving.

Today was her 23rd birthday. Today would be the day.

"Hermione? Draco?" she called out. It took her more effort than it should have to just raise the volume of her voice to above normal.

"Yes?" came Hermione's answer from downstairs. Ginny had owled her two friends the other night, asking them to stay with her during her last few days.

"Can you two come up?" Ginny asked in as loud of a voice as she could manage.

"Sure thing," replied Hermione. Ginny could hear her yelling at Draco to wake up, and smiled to herself. Hermione would always be Hermione.

A few minutes later, Hermione and Draco rushed into the room. They both looked slightly disgruntled and sleep-deprived. Draco's white-blonde hair was sticking up in all directions, a change from his normally combed back hairstyle. Hermione was wearing her shirt backwards, and kept blinking every few seconds.

"What were you two doing together down there?" Ginny teased.

"Nothing," replied Hermione in a rushed voice. A blush spread on her cheeks, and she avoided Ginny's gaze.

She laughed, and said jokingly, "I should get a chaperone for you guys."

"We weren't doing anything," insisted Draco. "What was it you wanted to talk to us about?" he asked quickly, cleverly shifting the topic.

Ginny's smile immediately fell, and she said, "Today's my 23rd birthday."

Hermione's eyes widened in realization. "Has it started yet?" she asked in a soft voice.

Nodding, Ginny pushed back her covers. The parts of her body that weren't covered by her nightdress were nearly see-through. "It's happening slowly," she explained.

"Oh Ginny!" cried Hermione, rushing over to her friend and embracing her. "I can't believe it."

Draco had also moved over to the bed, and he now stood with his head bowed gravely.

"I can't either," agreed Ginny. She winced as she faded a little more; the process was not painful, but fading away from existance wasn't exactly the greatest feeling in the world.

"Maybe I should go call a healer," Draco said uneasily.

"No, Draco, I'll be fine," Ginny said firmly. "I want only you two to be with me right now. I want to talk about...about them."

"I should have guessed," Hermione said in response.

"The first night we met them...I never had so much fun playing a Muggle game," Draco said as he sat down on the bed.

"Likewise," said Hermione wistfully.

"It really brought us all together," speculated Ginny.

Her friends nodded in agreement. "The entire trip brought us together; not only to each other, but to the Marauders too," Hermione remarked.

"Speaking of them, how are you handling things with Remus?"

"He told me that he still remembered me and loved me. He'd known all along, from the very first day he met me. And...I think I still love him too. We both know we can't be together though, so I guess I've moved on -" Hermione stole a glance at Draco, then continued "- and hopefully he has too."

Ginny smiled sadly. "That's good." She was now more transparent than not, and her voice was echoing - much like it had on the night they had to leave. "I think the only thing that got me through the second war was remembering everything we went through with them."

Hermione and Draco both agreed again. "You're fading, Ginny," Draco added in a whisper.

She could barely find the strength to nod her head, so she simply answered, "Yeah. You know...I never felt completely whole, not ever in my life, because the disease had started eating away at me since day one. But when I met James, it's like he filled in that hole for me."

"I know what you mean," Hermione said. Tears fell down her face as she helplessly watched her friend disappearing before her eyes. She leaned against Draco for support.

"I'm glad you two got together," Ginny murmured as she closed her eyes. A few seconds passed in silence, then she said, "I just wish...I could be with him one last time."

A silent sob wracked Draco's body, and Hermione wept freely as the last few visible parts of their best friend moved from their world to the next.

For hours, Draco held Hermione in his arms. They were both sharing the same anguish and distress. Over the years, the three of them had become closer friends than anything else, and their bond had only grown stronger after they survived the second war. Now, one of them was gone, and the pain was overpowering.

As the sun rose high in the sky, their tears continued to fall.

**August 15, 2004**

Draco and Hermione sat at the kitchen table of their apartment, eating lunch. They were talking about the Daily Prophet's report on Ginny's death. Even four days later, they were still flooded with grief.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang.

"I'll get that," Draco said with a sigh. He pushed his chair back, and walked over to the door. When he opened it, he was surprised to see Remus standing there.

The older wizard gave him a strained smile, and asked, "Where's Ginny?"

"She's..." Draco said, trying to force the words out, "she's gone."

Remus seemed to tense up. He shook his head in sympathy, and said, "I'm so sorry."

"We are too," replied Draco in a low voice. "Is there anything you wanted?"

The visitor sighed, and said, "Fate was against Ginny. They just gave me this letter...it was a letter from James to her, and the crystal was in it. The investigators found it in the remains of the Potter house just yesterday, and immediately sent it to me." He gave a folded piece of parchment to Draco, along with a golden chain with a silver crystal attached to it.

Draco's heart broke for Ginny. _I can't believe this_, he thought numbly. _That it had to come 4 days after her death... _Out loud, he said, "Thank you, Remus."

Remus nodded, and turned to go. "Tell her...tell her that what's in the letter is true. The part about me," he added before he left.

Raising an eyebrow, Draco said he would, then closed the door and went back inside.

"Who was it?" asked Hermione curiously as he sat back down at the table.

"Some investigator who found a letter from James to Ginny," he said carefully. Hermione always got extremely emotional whenever Remus's name was mentioned, and he didn't want to add to her unhappiness.

Hermione gasped. "Are you serious?" she said in a choked voice. "Oh my God, why couldn't they have found it sooner?"

He shook his head helplessly, then said, "She'd want us to read it, right?"

Hermione nodded. She alone had known Ginny better than anyone else, and she was sure that if her friend could contact them at the moment, she'd want them to know what James had said.

"Open it," she whispered.

Draco placed the necklace gently on the table, then unfolded the letter. With one last glance at each other, the two of them turned their eyes to the letter and began to read, allowing themselves to be pulled 23 years into the past by James's last words...


	25. The Letter

_October 31, 1981_

_Dear Ginny,_

_I don't know if this letter will ever reach you. You told me that you were from 1997, and since you were a sixth year at that time, I'm assuming that you will be born this year, or maybe you already have. Knowing that you might be out there somewhere in this world, even though you're just a baby, brings a smile to my face. Now that I think about it, it's rather silly, because the image I have of you is one in which you're still a year younger than me. It's hard to imagine myself as old enough to be your father._

_You were right - I did marry Lily. After the three of you left, we turned to each other for comfort and I guess everything just came back to us. I love her very much, and I'm so happy with her. There was one thing you were wrong about, though. You told me that someday I would grow to love her more than you...and that hasn't happened yet. I would die for Lily, but I still hold your life before mine and anyone else's._

_Today, our son Harry is 15 months old. Lily and I are, as you would imagine, proud parents. He looks just like me, except he has her lovely eyes. I hope that he'll grow up someday and be everything you told me he would be. I would never admit this to anyone, but sometimes when I look at Harry, I wish he could have had your beautiful brown eyes, or even your flaming red hair - anything to remind me of you. I shouldn't say that, I know; it's not like I would ever forget about you anyway._

_Sirius and Remus are both doing great. They were both at our wedding, and Sirius jumped into nearly every shot. He's still the joker he was in Hogwarts, and I doubt he'll ever change. I think they still pine for Hermione though, especially Remus. He actually just left a few hours ago - told me to let you know that he'll still love Hermione, no matter what happens, even if he denies it. Even after all those years..._

_Lily still loves Draco too. I know she does, just like she knows that I still hold you in my heart. None of us ever really let you three go - I suppose if you'd stayed, things would have been different. Of course, that couldn't have happened without screwing up everything, so maybe it's for the best that only us four knew you were from the future. And trust me, we will take that secret to the grave._

_The happiness we knew as teenagers has been taken away, Ginny. Voldemort rises in power, and Dumbledore has alerted me that he's after Lily and I. We've entrusted our lives to - you'll never guess - Peter Pettigrew. Yep, little Wormtail. I still don't think it's a good idea, but Sirius, who was originally chosen for the job, convinced us to switch to Peter. He told us he knows that Voldemort is after him, and using Peter would be our best bet. I don't trust him though - Peter, that is. He's been acting strange ever since Harry was born...I know that he's easily manipulated and tempted by the prospect of rewards; if Voldemort finds this out, then our lives will be handed over to him within a second._

_The night grows darker, and so do my spirits. Writing this letter to you is hard. As my quill moves across the page, memories from the short time I spent with you come flooding back. I remember the first day I met you: you caught my eye because you looked so much like Lily, yet so different. You had a light around you that attracted me, and I still feel that light 10 years later. We were so young, Ginny, and we fell in love easily. But no, our love wasn't a foolish teenage fling. It was something real. Only true love would be able to carry over a decade, and mine for you has._

_Ginny, you forgot to take your crystal the night you left. I realized this as I saw the last of you fade away, and by then it was too late. You have no idea how it broke my heart knowing that this tiny little stone could have saved your life, and everything we had done was gone to waste. I know I should have done the unselfish thing, and given it to St. Mungo's - after all, it could have saved someone else's life. But I never did, because it was the only reminder of you I had left, and I couldn't bear to part with it._

_Let me tell you this...this crystal held your life, and you gave it to me in exchange for my heart. You never got yours back, and I'll never get mine back. You'll hold my heart forever, Ginny, and I will hold your crystal for an equally long time._

_I think I hear someone at the door - screaming - yelling - I think our time has come. Yes, I hear the cold voice of Voldemort outside, the laughs of his Death Eaters...I must go now. I'm attaching the necklace with the crystal to this letter in hopes that you will discover it before your 23rd birthday. This is the first and last time I'll ever write to you. There is no way out; Lily and I cannot survive against the Dark Lord. I can only hope that you were right, and that Harry will live._

_Ginny, I'll love you forever and even in death, I'll never forget you._

_Yours eterna..._

The note that came along with the letter told Draco and Hermione that James didn't had the time to complete the last two words. When the letter was discovered, the wizards who examined it decided that he must have been unable to finish writing it, and instead, folded it quickly and put the necklace inside.

Ginny never got the chance to read the letter.

A/N: I'm really sorry about not updating for so long! I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and thank you to all my kind reviewers :)


End file.
